Ain't No Rest For the Wicked
by Ultimate Queen of Cliffies
Summary: "Please," she whispered, almost begging him. "Please don't. I'll pay you back every coin you've paid for me, I promise, and more if you want me to, but please... please just leave me alone." It was safe to say that that was not what Fiyero had expected to happen when he walked into a brothel. AU Fiyeraba. Some sensitive themes. Tied 1st place Best Angst in the 2016 Greg Awards.
1. The Prince's Problems

**I'm back! Don't ask me where this story came from. Plot bunnies sometimes have their own ideas. I guess you could say this was another challenge for myself, writing about topics I don't normally write about - I've been challenging myself a lot in my writing lately.**

 **WARNING: Now, you all know me and my writing, so you know there won't be anything explicit in here. However, this story _is_ about prostitution, so expect mentions of eating pie and some other things as well, including (attempted) rape, not-quite-consensual sex, suicide, and abortion. Again, nothing too bad and (I think) nothing triggering; but if you don't want anything to do with these topics, then don't read this story. It's simple as that.**

 **Now, on with it and I hope you'll stick with me and enjoy despite the somewhat heavy themes!**

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 **1\. The Prince's Problems**

Prince Fiyero Tiggular of the Vinkus was known for many things. Organising the best parties in all of Oz was one of them – he always had the best wine, the best music, and the best company, even though the details of those parties were more often than not completely forgotten by its attendants in the morning. The prince was also known for either having flunked out of or having been expelled from as many as five different universities over the course of only three years, much to his parents' utter despair. He was an eligible bachelor, although that did not have much to do with his skills and intelligence (or lack thereof, according to most people). He was mostly just good-looking: with his muscular build, well-defined features, and bright blue eyes, he had even been declared the handsomest celebrity in all of Oz by the popular magazine _Ozmopolitan_. Another thing he was well-known for was his way with women – charming them, using them, and then tossing them aside. It was a miracle, really, that girls still swooned over him even though they knew about his reputation.

Sometimes the prince could not find a girl to keep his bed warm at night, or he simply wanted to try something different. That was when he visited one of the brothels scattered throughout the country, paying some extra coins to buy the silence of everyone who saw him there. Not that that practice did him much good; everyone knew about his occasional visits to such places, but hardly anyone spoke of them aloud. Most people did not care much, since most men visited a brothel at one time or another. When it came to the Vinkun prince, they all had bigger issues to worry about – such as what kind of king he would make if he could not stay at a university for more than a year and was as brainless as a scarecrow.

Eventually, he did manage to do well enough in his sixth university to earn his degree in Politics, which caused a sigh of relief to ripple through the Vinkus. He was the royal family's only heir and the people felt confident that with an education, Prince Fiyero would soon settle down, abandon his childish antics, and find himself a wife. Even his parents, King Hamold and Queen Elora, were hopeful. The king started giving his son some royal duties, carefully beginning to prepare the frisky prince for his destiny as King of the Vinkus; and the queen kept close track of every girl Fiyero encountered, wondering if this might be the one he would present to his parents as his future wife.

She did not see any of those girls a second time, however; and as Fiyero continued to flirt, frolic, drink, and dance, his parents' hopes soon dissipated. The prince was twenty-three years old by then and as a last resort, the king and queen sent him to live with his grandparents in the eastern Vinkus for a while, hoping their simple lifestyle and kind, but stern natures would help turn Fiyero's behaviour around.

The fact that he was currently sitting in a bar, downing a glass of whiskey as he laughed with some drinking mates he had met within days of arriving in the town of Reins, did not imply that his parents' hopes would come true.

The truth was that Fiyero did not want to grow up. He didn't want the responsibilities that came with being king; he didn't see why he would ever want that. All his life, he had known what had been expected of him. Everyone around him had hinted at the fact that he was going to be king and ever since his early teenage years, people had pushed him to be at his best behaviour, since he was an example for the people of the Vinkus.

Even back then, when he was younger, Fiyero didn't want to be an example. He wanted to go to school and have friends, to climb trees and chase girls, and to do all the things normal boys his age did. He started rebelling and eventually, that turned into a survival strategy. Whatever was expected of him, he would do exactly the opposite. He hated seeing how badly it hurt his parents, but he pushed them away as well, because they were the ones who had put this burden on him. He had never had a choice. He had no control over his own life and so he tried to take that control in a different way.

He staggered out of the bar a couple of hours past midnight, still singing the song he had been singing inside with his drinking mates, terribly off-key. He stumbled over his own feet and nearly found himself smashing against the dirty cobblestones, but he managed to stay upright somehow and made his way out of the back alley and into another.

His grandparents lived at a small farm on a country road – very rustic and quiet, but Fiyero did not really like rustic and quiet. Thankfully, the town of Reins was only a few minutes' walk down the road from his grandparents' farm and so that was where Fiyero went for his amusement. There were a couple of bars and taverns, lots of people his own age – both nice young men and lovely ladies – and even a brothel. He had thrown a party in the common room of that brothel on his first night in Reins a little less than a week ago and thus he had gained a lot of new friends already.

He swayed, reaching out to steady himself against a wall. Bile rose in his throat and he threw up on the cobblestones, wincing at the sour taste in his mouth. All right, maybe he should not have had those final three glasses. Oz, were his grandparents going to kill him.

He blinked, bleary, and tried to orientate himself. He wasn't sure where he was or how to get back to the farm, but maybe he could just stay here in town until morning. He had some money with him, so he could go to the inn... or perhaps one of his friends would let him stay over.

It started raining, large drops falling down onto his head, and he swore. He hated rain. He stumbled on, still unsure of where he was or where he should go. The rain picked up, soon soaking him to the bone, and he did not hesitate when he saw the brothel on the corner of the street. A sign with a girl's silhouette and the name of the place was swaying in the wind, making creaking noises. _The Hidden Depths_ , the brothel was called, although Fiyero had already learned that it was more commonly known as " _The Fish's Lair_ " among the townspeople. He hadn't been sure why until he had seen the woman owning the place, a Madame Morrible, on the night of the party. The similarities to a fish were really rather striking.

He had been to the brothel before a couple of times – once with a redhead and once with a pretty blonde – and he slipped inside now, blinking a few times to try and get his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting in the common room. Madame Morrible herself instantly swept over to him, a fake smile plastered onto her make-up-covered face.

"Welcome, Your Highness," she purred. "May I take your coat?"

He nodded and handed it to her. She wrinkled her nose at the spots of vomit on the front, but didn't say anything as she moved to hang his sodden coat away somewhere. "How can I help you today? Are you just here to seek cover from the rain and perhaps have a drink, or would you like some entertainment for the night?"

He grinned at her. "You'll never hear me saying no to that." He rubbed his hands together. "Now, which girl would you recommend to me tonight?"

She smirked. "That depends on your preferences, Your Highness. If you like yourself a lovely redhead like last time, there is Ruby. If you prefer blonde with curves, we have Topaz available tonight – you said you liked her a lot the first time you were here, so maybe you'd be up for a second round with her? We also have some fuller young ladies, if that tickles your fancy – I can assure you that Onyx is very good at what she does and her figure, though full, is quite attractive. The same goes for Sapphire. I would also recommend Emerald to you, in case you like something more exotic; but unfortunately, like last time, she is still indisposed." She smiled again. It was truly a terrifying sight to behold, Fiyero thought. It was like watching a fish stretch its lips all the way back to reveal two rows of teeth that shouldn't even be there. "We have girls in all shapes and sizes, with different body types, hair colours, and specialties. Whatever you like, Your Highness."

"I think..." He thought about it for a moment, but thinking was hard with so much alcohol still coursing through his veins. "I think I'll go with Topaz again. She really was wonderful."

"Very well. That will be five pieces of silver for an hour with her, Your Highness."

Fiyero paid and Morrible turned around to point. "Back there, up the stairs, down the hallway, around the corner, second door to the right – just like the previous time you saw her. Enjoy, Your Highness."

His head spinning, he went to the back and climb the stairs, only to hesitate at the top of them because he already couldn't remember Morrible's instructions anymore. He slowly moved down the dim hallway. "Hello?"

"Hello," a voice purred and he turned to find Ruby, the redhead he'd been with last time, standing in the doorway to one of the other rooms, clad in a robe. She was twirling one end of the belt looping around her waist between her fingers and the look in her eyes was sultry. "Come back for a second round?"

"Not tonight," he apologised. "Maybe later?"

Her eyes darkened, but she smiled sweetly. "Sure."

"I'm looking for Topaz now," he said.

She pointed down the hallway. "Around the corner. Second door to the right." She giggled and waved at him before disappearing back into her room.

Fiyero followed her directions and found himself in a room decorated with lots of pink – he'd forgotten just how much pink Topaz had in her room. In the middle of it was a large bed with a blonde beauty stretched out on it on her stomach, feet up in the air, causing her own robe to fall down to her backside, almost – but not quite – revealing what she was wearing underneath.

She looked up when he entered and a brilliant smile lit up her face. "Your Highness! You're back!" she gushed, leaping to her feet and moving over to him. She pushed the door shut and pressed against him. "I am Ga– I mean, I am Topaz – but you probably remember that from a week ago. Do you want to get started right away?"

"Yes, please," he said, eyeing her hungrily. She was even prettier than he remembered. The girl had wavy, blonde hair that fell past her shoulder blades, dark blue eyes, and creamy, flawless skin. She was curvy and full, but not quite plump. She was wearing make-up and her long nails were painted in a pale pink colour, the glitters in them catching the light as she moved.

Topaz giggled and turned away from him, looking coyly over her shoulder as she let the robe fall down to pool at her feet. Beneath it, she was wearing a set of pink, lacy undergarments and Fiyero's grin nearly split his face in two as he pushed away from the door. This was going to be one wonderful night.

* * *

Galinda Upland left her room at the end of the night and slunk down the hallway, slipping through the door at the end of it. She paused for a moment, trying to determine whether the person in the bed across the room was awake or not. "Elphie?" she whispered.

"Glin?" came the weak reply and the blonde went further into the room, sinking down in the armchair by the bed. Her friend was curled in a ball, arms wrapped around herself. Her dark eyes seemed enormous in her face, which was pale and gaunt, and Galinda sighed and reached for Elphaba's hand.

"How are you feeling?" she asked gently, but Elphaba just shook her head. Galinda squeezed the green hand in hers. "Physical or emotional pain?"

"Both," the green girl whispered, closing her eyes for a moment.

Galinda climbed onto the bed with her friend, hugging her carefully from behind. "I'm so sorry, Elphie."

"It's all right. It's better than yesterday." Elphaba's voice was flat, though. "And I knew this would happen from the start. It's what always happens."

That much, at least, Galinda mused, was true. She had just never expected it to happen to her best friend. Looking at Elphaba now, she felt so sorry for her. The other girl truly did look bad and it was like the spark had disappeared from her dark brown eyes.

Galinda kissed Elphaba's cheek. "Get some more rest, Elphie," she murmured. "You'll feel better soon, I promise. If you need anything, just call for me, all right? I'll be back in the morning to check up on you."

"Thanks, Glin," Elphaba whispered, closing her eyes again; and Galinda gave her one final smile before sneaking out of the room again. She closed the door softly behind her and returned to her own room, wishing there was more she could do to help her friend… wishing both their lives were different.

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 **You'd make my day if you'd take a little time to type something nice (or some constructive criticism) into the box below and hit "Post Review"!**


	2. The Green Girl's Plight

**Apologies for the typo in the previous chapter! I fixed it now. Due to the eye laser procedure I underwent a month ago, I still have double vision when trying to read anything less than half a metre away and that is _very_ annoying when proofreading. If you find any other typos, please do let me know!**

 **Also, I'm completely overwhelmed by the response to the first chapter! Thank you so much for that, it really made my day!**

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 **2\. The Green Girl's Plight**

It was two days after his previous visit to _The Hidden Depths_ that Fiyero returned. He'd had a wonderful night again with the pretty blonde Topaz and he was looking forward to making use of her services again – or maybe he would try one of the other girls today.

His grandparents had, indeed, scolded him none too mildly for his behaviour the day before, but he'd treated them like he'd been treating his parents the past years: he ignored them and went on doing what he was doing. His grandfather, Kevon, did make him help out at the farm while he was there, which he did begrudgingly, but he was determined to make what he saw as good use of his free time.

Madame Morrible, like the time before, greeted him with enthusiasm and a greedy glint in her eyes. "What can I do for you tonight, Your Highness?"

Fiyero glanced around him. There were more people present tonight – a couple of men drinking in a corner of the brothel's common room, some pretty girls in their laps. He nodded at them. "Who are those girls?"

"That is Onyx," Morrible said, indicating a fuller girl with dark skin and black hair, "and the blonde one is Crystal. They're on common room duty tonight, so they're unavailable. Topaz is occupied with someone else at the moment as well, but you could wait for her if you'd like."

"Which girls are available right now?" the prince asked as he returned his attention to the brothel's madam.

Morrible checked a book that was lying on the bar. "Ruby is available," she said. "Let's see... Jade and Sapphire have the night off. There's Pearl or Diamond, but I'm afraid... Oh, of course – Emerald is available as well."

"The exotic one?" Fiyero's curiosity was piqued. "She is no longer indisposed?"

Morrible's lips curled into a wry smile. "No, Your Highness, she is very much available once more. Would you like to give her a try? She's really quite something." She tapped one long nail on the book. "She will cost you six pieces of silver."

"Six?"

Morrible nodded. "She is more special than even Topaz, Your Highness, I can assure you that much. She will be well worth her price."

"All right then." Fiyero paid the woman and Morrible smiled triumphantly at him.

"Once again, up the stairs and down the hallway," she almost sang. "The door at the end of the hall is Emerald's."

Fiyero thanked her and went up the stairs, following the woman's directions until he reached the right door. He knocked and then pushed it open.

The moment he laid eyes on Emerald, he understood why she was called that: her skin was an undeniable shade of emerald green. He stood there for a moment, baffled, and wondered if he was seeing things. He'd hardly had anything to drink so far today, so he couldn't be drunk… right?

He closed the door behind him and approached her. She was watching him warily from behind a curtain of long, curly, raven black hair. She was pretty, he decided, despite – or maybe even because of – her green skin.

"Hello there," he said with a grin. "Madame Morrible was right – you're quite something else." He reached out to touch her, but she flinched away from him, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Please," she whispered, almost begging him. "Please don't touch me. I'll pay you back every coin you've paid for me, I promise, and more if you want me to, but please... please just leave me alone. I'm sorry. I can't..." She whimpered and shrunk away further, shaking her head. "Not yet, not tonight. Please."

He furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why not? What's wrong with you?"

She just kept on shaking her head and he said, "If you're still indisposed, then why are you working tonight in the first place?"

"Because Madame Morrible wanted me to," she said quietly, lowering her gaze. "She said I'd had enough time to recover. I'm one of her most popular girls and she said she can't afford to give me off more than a few nights, but I really can't do this yet. I'm so sorry, but please, _please_ leave me be."

All thoughts of pleasure and fun disappeared when he looked at this girl, so slender and pale and so obviously terrified, and he sat down in the chair beside the bed. "I won't do anything," he assured her. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No!" She looked panicked, all of a sudden. "If Madame Morrible finds out I'm chasing away customers now..."

"She won't," Fiyero cut her off. "Don't worry. I'll just stay in here for a while, keep up appearances, then tell her you were amazing when I leave. You don't have to pay me back and I won't touch you if you don't want me to. It's okay."

She glanced at him from beneath eyelashes just as thick and dark as that mass of hair. "Really?" she asked hesitantly and he nodded.

"I swear it."

"All right," she whispered, visibly sagging with relief. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"It's nothing." He studied her. She wasn't just slender – she was rather skinny, actually, as if she had never had enough to eat. Her skin was a vibrant green and she was dressed in a black robe of silk, with her ebony hair hanging loosely down her back and reaching her waist. Her eyes were a rich, dark brown and her lips, he noted, were an interesting shade somewhere between a darker green and grey.

She curled into herself on the bed, a small frown on her face as she clutched her abdomen. When she noticed him watching her, she looked almost guilty.

"Are you in pain?" he asked. She hesitated and he added, "It's all right. You can tell me."

She nodded and then confessed quietly, "Yes."

"What happened? Are you sick?"

She shook her head, but she didn't say anything else and he frowned a little. "Will you at least tell me your name? It's not Emerald, is it? Unless Morrible picked her girls because of their matching names..."

That earned him the tiniest of smiles from her and he was surprised at what it did for her, lighting up her face and making her look even prettier. There was a faint hint of dimples in her cheeks. "No. She just gave us all mineral names because she thought that sounded interesting, and to protect our privacy to some degree."

Fiyero nodded – that made sense, even though protecting the privacy of prostitute seemed a little ironic somehow. "Can you just tell me your real first name, then?"

She bit her lip, seeming to think about that for a moment. Then she said, "Elphaba."

"That's a beautiful name."

She was about to reply when she grimaced and doubled over again, clutching her abdomen as she squeezed her eyes shut. Alarmed, he moved closer to the bed and rubbed her back. "Elphaba?" The name rolled easily off his tongue. It really was a beautiful name, he thought – she was probably named after Saint Aelphaba, although she pronounced her own name slightly differently. "Are you all right? Should I call someone?"

She shook her head violently. "I'm fine. Please don't call anyone."

"Okay." He looked at her. The pain seemed to ease; she relaxed a little and he pulled away from her, suddenly aware of how close they were. He wondered what was wrong with her, but didn't want to push her when she so obviously didn't want to talk to him about it.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked her. "To help you? You seem like you're ill, Elphaba. You should be sleeping, or at the very least resting in your bed with a cup of tea or some soup."

Elphaba huffed a breathless laugh, her hands still pressed against her abdomen. "People in my profession, especially with my background, don't get coddled when they're not feeling well."

He realised that that was probably true and for some reason, it made him feel bad. If he were completely honest with himself, he had never really considered the possibility that all those beautiful, purring girls at the brothels he visited may not want to be there at all. That maybe they were somehow forced to do what they did and that they didn't like doing it. Life must be lonely for girls like Elphaba – there was a lot of "love" going around for them, but in the end, most of them probably went home alone... if they even had a home of their own.

"I'll coddle you, then," he said, suddenly determined; and he rose to his feet and left the room, going down to see Madame Morrible.

She looked surprised. "Back already, Your Highness? Was Emerald not satisfying?"

He didn't miss the way her eyes narrowed when she asked that question and he was quick to wave her away. "No, no, it's not like that at all! She's marvellous, actually. Very good, if you know what I mean." He winked. "I just came to ask you if I could maybe have some food brought up. It hasn't even been that long, but I've already worked up an appetite. Also, is it possible for me to have Emerald for the rest of the night? I'll pay for every hour, of course."

She looked appeased – pleased, even. "It is, Your Highness."

He handed her some gold. "Will this do?"

"That is more than enough. I will tell the other customers that Emerald will be occupied for the night." She smirked. "What kind of food would you like, Your Highness?"

"Oh, nothing special," he said with a winning smile. "Perhaps just some soup and bread? Maybe some fruit, if you have it, and a bottle of wine?" Wine might help her sleep and maybe ease some of her pain. He wanted to ask for tea, too, but thought that might come off as too suspicious, since he was pretending the food was for him.

"That is fine," she agreed. "It will be left outside your door shortly so that you will not be disturbed. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Your Highness."

"Thank you, Madame." With that, he went back upstairs to Elphaba.

She looked at him with large, questioning eyes when he closed the door behind him and he told her he had reserved her for the rest of the night. "I want you to get some rest," he said, sitting back down in the armchair. "Some food will be up soon and you're going to eat it and then sleep. You look like you need it. I'll make sure no-one will bother you tonight."

The relief on her face broke his heart and she sounded hoarse when she said, "Thank you."

He went to fetch the food not long thereafter and watched as she tore into the meal like she hadn't eaten in days. Deciding he wanted to try and get to know more about her, he asked, "Where are you from?"

"Originally?" she asked between bites. "Munchkinland. I was left at an orphanage here in the Vinkus when I was nearly four years old."

Fiyero was shocked. "Left?" he echoed.

"By my father. He hated me from the moment I was born because of my skin," she confessed, glancing down at an emerald green arm. "The moment my mother passed away in childbirth with my sister, he no longer had an excuse to keep me around and so he abandoned me."

"You grew up in an orphanage?" he asked, horrified.

She nodded, popping some pieces of fruit into her mouth. "Until I was sixteen. Then I was tossed out into the streets. I lived off begging and stealing for a while and then Madame Morrible found me. I've been working for her ever since, trying to save enough money for me to pay off my debt to her and go and build my own life somewhere."

"And you live here now?"

She nodded again. "We all do."

How many of these girls, Fiyero wondered, had a story similar to Elphaba's? To have absolutely nothing to give, no way to make a living, except for selling one's own body to strangers... it sounded like a nightmare to him, but Elphaba talked about it so matter-of-factly, without a trace of self-pity.

"How old are you?" he asked suddenly and she swallowed a bite.

"Nineteen."

Nineteen. He could only stare at her for a while.

She winced and he quickly took the tray of food away from her, waiting until the wave of pain had passed. Then he asked softly, "What's wrong with you, Elphaba?"

"I shouldn't be telling you any of this," she told him instead of answering. "We're not supposed to speak of our personal lives – or speak at all."

"And I'm not supposed to sit here and want to hear your story after paying for a whole different kind of service," he countered, "and yet here I am."

"I know." She sighed. "I suppose I at least owe you the answers to your questions for everything you've done for me tonight. Really – thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"It's not a problem," he insisted. "And I don't want you to tell me things about yourself because you think you owe me that. You don't owe me anything. I'm just worried about you and interested in your life, that's all. You're an interesting girl."

She chuckled. "I guess you could say that." She was silent for a moment and then she said, so softly that he almost couldn't hear her, "I was pregnant."

He froze.

"Madame Morrible brews us potions," she continued, not looking at him. "To prevent… unwanted consequences from happening. There's a slight chance of them not working, though, so I guess it was bad luck. Of course, I couldn't have the baby – I could never care for it on my own and Madame Morrible can't have a baby to care for, either, so she made me... well... get rid of it. The cramps and pains are just the aftermath of the procedure."

Fiyero hadn't thought he could grow more horrified than he already was at her story, but this... he didn't even know what he could say to this. She was only nineteen, four years younger than he was, and she had already been through so much. He thought of his own rich, pampered, perfect life and he felt spoilt and guilty, somehow. Almost dirty. How had he ever believed that his life was bad?

"You said Morrible thought a few nights was enough time for you to recover," he recalled, his voice shaking a little, and she nodded.

"It all happened a few days ago," she said. "The doctor said I should be on bed rest for three days and take it easy for a week, but I could never take that much time off. I was surprised Madame Morrible let me take a couple of nights, actually – it was probably only because I kept throwing up and I looked like a ghost, so no man would want me, anyway. Everything hurts," she admitted, "and the mere thought of... well, doing my job... makes me want to vomit all over again, but I have to."

"Not tonight," he told her sternly and she laughed softly.

"No," she agreed. "Not tonight. Thank –"

"Stop thanking me," he said. "You're welcome. Let's just leave it at that."

She smiled at him, her dimples appearing more profoundly this time. He couldn't help but smile back.

* * *

 **Some of you are expecting (and/or fearing) right now that this will be a really dark story. It's not (or I don't think it is, anyway). I've tried to mainly put the focus on Elphaba and Fiyero (and to a lesser extent some others as well) as characters, how their lives shaped them and how they develop and grow now, both individually and in their relationship later on; and I've tried to keep the story relatively light despite the heavy topics - I think it will be comparable to _No Day But Today_ in that sense.**

 **Last but not least (sorry for all the AN nonsense - I have a lot to say today, haha), some friend promotion. VinkunEmeralds wrote a really sweet one-shot called _Remembering You_ , so go check that out on her profile! Also, i** **n case you've read my drabbles _Fanfiction_ and _Fanfiction 2_ , go read the sequel PocketSevens wrote to those, _Fanfiction 3_ , on his profile. It's about _No Day But Today_ , among other things, and there's a teaser for his next fic, too. It's hilarious, so don't drink anything whilst reading it or I can promise you you'll snort it out of your nose.**


	3. The Story's Influence

**Virtual brownies for all of you in exchange for all the lovely reviews you left! (The food kind of brownies. Not the bunny kind. Sorry, but the bunny is mine.)**

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 **3\. The Story's Influence**

He sat by her bedside for the rest of the night, watching her sleep and thinking about his life and hers. She was beautiful when she slept, her raven curls fanned out across her pillow and her face peaceful.

In all the ten years he had been rebelling against his parents, he had never once thought of the Vinkun people. In his mind, he had basically seen them as a panel of stern judges watching his every move and chiding him for everything he supposedly did wrong. He had never thought of the more unfortunate ones – the ones he could help if he were to become their king. He had only seen the duties and the obligations – the burden – and not the opportunities, the ways in which he could make good.

He had started sleeping with random girls when he was a little older than Elphaba was now, probably about twenty, and he hadn't thought twice about them, either. He'd never imagined that they might not like being used to keep his bed warm and then being cast aside for prettier or more interesting ones. He'd never gone to a brothel and wondered about the life of the girl lying in bed with him – about if she had a family, or what her childhood had been like, or if she was doing her job willingly or out of pure necessity. A feeling of shame suddenly washed over him, so strong that it nearly knocked the wind out of him, and he buried his face in his hands. What kind of horrible person had he been?

He didn't know what he should do now. Just because he recognised that his behaviour had been out of line, didn't mean he would – or even could – instantly change it. He'd been acting this way for so long – was he just supposed to apologise to everyone and happily act like an adult now? Commit himself to a stable relationship and obediently learn about being king? The mere thought made his hackles rise. He wasn't cut out for that sort of thing. Sometimes he thought he wasn't cut out for anything. Spoilt or not, he knew he hardly had any skills – his own insecurity was also a part of the reason why he had started misbehaving, despite his cocky attitude.

He ended up falling asleep in the chair and didn't wake until there was a knock on the door. "I do apologise, Your Highness, but I'm afraid I must ask you to leave," Madame Morrible called through the door. "It's three in the morning."

In the bed, Elphaba had shot up wide-eyed, only to cringe at a stab of pain. Fiyero gave her a sympathetic look as he called back, "I'll be right out, Madame!"

The green girl followed him with her eyes as he quickly unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off, crumpling it into a ball to make it look rumpled and then buttoning it back up again with the buttons all askew. He mussed his own hair with his fingers and flashed Elphaba a grin. "How do I look?" he asked her in a whisper.

"Like you've had a rough night," she replied equally quietly, smiling, and he chuckled.

"Good." He picked up his coat. "Thank you for tonight, Emerald," he said in a louder voice. "You can be sure to expect me back sometime soon. I had a _great_ time."

Elphaba tilted her head a little to the side, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "I'm glad you had fun," she purred.

He winked at her and then opened the door. Madame Morrible was waiting outside and he gave her a sheepish grin. "I do apologise, Madame," he said. "I'm afraid I got a little carried away."

"That is quite all right, Your Highness," she assured him, casting a glance into the room. Luckily Elphaba, with her hair tangled from sleeping and the blankets drawn up to her chin, looked just as much like they'd had a wild night as Fiyero himself did. "You were rather generous with your payment, after all. We do manage closing hours, though – to give my girls some rest, you see."

"Of course," he replied smoothly. "I suppose I will just come back some other time, then. Thank you for everything, Madame, and good night to you. And to you as well," he added to Elphaba, blowing her a kiss. With that, he swaggered down the hallway and back down the stairs, out of the building and into the streets.

Everything was dark when Fiyero slipped through the back door of his grandparents' farm at half past three in the morning, quietly making his way over to his room; but when he moved through the hallway and passed the open door to the living room, he froze.

There, with a small light burning on the table, sat his grandfather.

Their eyes met – two pairs of azure blue eyes – and Kevon said calmly, "Hello, Fiyero. I think we need to talk."

Fiyero swallowed.

* * *

Galinda tilted her head a little to the side, studying her friend through narrowed eyes. "You look far too happy for someone in your predicament," she said, thankfully keeping her voice down. "I know there was a man with you last night. Was it not as bad as you had expected it to be? I was afraid the fact that you're still in so much pain would make it a terrible experience, but you look happy and so does Madame Morrible. What happened?"

"There was a man," Elphaba confirmed quietly as the two of them walked to a table in the corner with their breakfast. "But he... he didn't do anything." She flushed. "I mean... I asked him not to. I sort of begged him, actually." She groaned as she sat down and buried her face in her hands. "I'm embarrassed to death about my behaviour last night, but I just... I couldn't. I was still in so much pain..."

"So you asked him to leave you alone, and he did?" Galinda asked in amazement and Elphaba nodded.

"Not just that," she said, tearing a small piece off her bread. "He promised me he wouldn't tell Madame Morrible anything. He paid for me – not just for the hour he originally wanted me, but for the whole night, to ensure no-one else would bother me. He had food brought up for me and then made me go to sleep. He only napped in the chair for a few hours."

Galinda's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "That must have been some man. Most are just uncivilised swine." She sniffed daintily, making Elphaba chuckle. "You really didn't do anything at all?"

Elphaba shook her head. "We just talked," she said. "He... he wanted to know why, you know... why I didn't want anything to happen. I figured I owed him an explanation," she admitted. "And he asked about my life..."

"He sounds dreamy." Galinda sighed happily, digging into her food. "Do you suppose he's rich?" she asked, her mouth full. "He must be, right, if he can afford you for an entire night? Maybe he likes you. Maybe you two will fall in love and he'll get you out of here to ride off into the sunset together. Do you think he'd be okay with taking me along if that is the case?"

Elphaba laughed softly. "You know that if I ever do manage to get out of this hell hole, I'll do it with you, Glin," she said, making Galinda beam at her. "But even aside from the fact that Morrible won't let us go for the next six years or so, it's not like that at all. I don't even know his name."

Galinda looked shocked. "You don't?"

The dark-haired girl shrugged helplessly. "I was in pain, Galinda, and I was either asleep or completely stunned at his actions most of the time last night," she said. "It just... didn't cross my mind." Her cheeks darkened again. "Oz, that was rude of me, wasn't it? He did so much for me and I didn't even ask him his name!"

"It was a little rude, Elphie," Galinda told her friend matter-of-factly, taking another bite. "Perhaps he will be back tonight."

Elphaba's face fell. "Is it bad of me to say that I hope he will?" she asked timidly. "I mean... I'm feeling better today, but not _that_ good. I don't want..." She trailed off and shook her head. "Well, I don't suppose I have much of a choice, do I?"

"Oh, Elphie..." Galinda reached out to cover the green girl's hand with her own. "Have some hot soup for dinner," she advised her. "That might help with the cramps. I have a hot water pitch – I'll heat it up for you and you can keep it on your abdomen just before you start work tonight, so hopefully the pain will be minimal. Make sure to sleep a lot today, all right, and drink lots of water. I wish I could offer you something for the pain, but... well, you know." Madame Morrible refused to let the girls have any kind of medication, claiming it was too expensive and bad for their health. In extreme cases such as Elphaba's, she allowed them the tiniest bit of pain medication, but that was all; and she had cut Elphaba off the pills the day before already.

"Thanks, Galinda," said Elphaba, heaving a sigh. "I just hope it won't be too bad." She quirked a wry smile. "I suppose I must be grateful to still be here at all."

And she was. Procedures like the one she had endured were quite dangerous; the risk of infection was high and there were plenty of other things that could go wrong. Half of the girls going through such a procedure either got very sick or didn't make it, so Elphaba supposed she really was lucky to only have some bad cramps and soreness – especially since she'd heard that one of Madame Morrible's girls had died of infection after undergoing the same procedure a couple of years before Elphaba came to _The Hidden Depths_.

Elphaba didn't feel lucky, though. She felt empty. Not for the first time, she caught herself touching her abdomen with her hand and she quickly pulled it away. She could never have had the baby. How would she have taken care of it if she wasn't even able to take care of herself? She wasn't sure she wanted to put a child into this wretched world, anyway. Even if Madame Morrible hadn't made her do this, she told herself she still would have done it – for the baby's sake as much as for her own.

But that didn't mean it didn't hurt. And not just in the physical sense.

"Hey, Elphaba."

She looked up, only to find some of the other girls standing next to her table – the ones known as Sapphire, Jade, and Onyx, although she knew their real names were Lulu, Delani, and Shenshen.

"We just wanted to see how you were doing," said Sapphire – Lulu. She was a very quiet and withdrawn girl who didn't easily make friends, but she'd somehow taken a liking to Elphaba from the start. Perhaps it was because Elphaba was an outcast as well. Delani's presence didn't surprise Elphaba, since she was, aside from the green girl, Lulu's only real friend and she wasn't nearly as superficial as most of the other girls.

The fact that Shenshen was here, however, nervously twirling a strand of black hair around her finger, did unnerve Elphaba a little. Shenshen could usually be found with Ruby and Crystal – or Pfannee and Milla, as their real names were – and neither of those two had ever bothered to look past Elphaba's skin colour. They resented her for being popular with men because of her "exotic" appearance and they usually bullied her in some way, calling her names or simply ignoring her completely.

"I'm okay," said Elphaba, looking up at Lulu and Delani, but avoiding Shenshen's gaze. "I mean, I've been better, but I'm not doing too badly, I suppose."

Lulu and Delani both smiled at her. "If we can help you somehow, let us know," said Delani.

Lulu nodded in agreement and Elphaba said simply, "Thank you."

They left then, but Shenshen lingered, glancing at Galinda and then back at Elphaba a few times. Finally, she took a breath and confessed, "I know what you're going through."

Elphaba blinked at her.

Galinda inhaled sharply, catching on faster than her friend. "You...?"

"Yes." Shenshen nodded, not meeting either of their gazes. "When I was seventeen – not too long before you first came here, Elphaba." She hesitated. "I guess I just wanted to say that... well, I know how it feels and it's not... not good to go through that alone. I know you have Galinda, and probably Lulu, too, but... well, if you want to... I don't know. Talk about it with someone who knows what it's like, I guess..."

"...I'll know where to find you," Elphaba finished. She managed a small smile. "Thank you, Shenshen. For telling me, too."

The dark-skinned girl shrugged. "It's not easy," she said. "It hurts, in more ways than one. I remember feeling empty, angry, and sad... and I felt violated, somehow, which is a stupid thing to feel when you do… well, what we do… on a daily basis, but I did. I didn't want it taken away," she confessed, lowering her gaze. "If I'd had a choice, I would have kept the baby... if Madame Morrible didn't force me to undergo the procedure, if I'd been able to provide for the child, if I thought there was any hope at all for him or her."

"But there wasn't," said Elphaba, biting her lip. "Was there?"

Shenshen shook her head. "No," she said. "Not for babies born to people like us. Not while we're still here, doing this. But someday," she said, her dark eyes determined, "someday I'm going to have a child of my own, whom I am going to raise the best I can. I'm going to be a good mother when the time comes and so will you, Elphaba. It gets better. I can promise you that."

Elphaba nodded, a lump in her throat; and Shenshen flashed her a final small smile before turning around and leaving.


	4. The Poor People's Burdens

**4\. The Poor People's Burdens**

He didn't come that night.

He didn't come the night after that, either.

Elphaba had followed Galinda's advice and she'd tried to do what she always did when the first man came to her the night after the mysterious stranger's visit, but it had hurt even more than she had anticipated. When her first client of the night was gone, she'd curled up in a ball on the bed, sobbing so hard her whole body shook with it. Lulu had heard her sobs and she'd come into the room, gently rubbing Elphaba's back and trying to soothe her, whispering words of comfort to her until she'd calmed down a little. She offered to stay with the green girl, but Elphaba declined, knowing it wasn't possible. She'd probably get more clients that night and she didn't want Lulu to get in trouble – she had to work that night, too.

And so she endured it that first night. There were only two men, but she felt like she'd been turned inside out and afterwards, she spent almost half an hour retching into the toilet. She wished Galinda was there, holding back her hair as she had done the first few days, but her friend was still at work. They were all trapped, she realised bitterly. Trapped and used and broken.

The second night, she was in less pain, but there were three men that night and it still wasn't pleasant by far. Somehow, though, the men seemed to mistake her whimpers and cries of pain for ones of pleasure, which she supposed was something to be grateful for. At least Morrible wouldn't know how horrible she was feeling and no word would get back to her about Elphaba not doing her job properly. The old fish would probably make her work on her nights off or deprive her of food for a day if she knew.

In the afternoons, she stayed in her room, resting and reading and dreaming of a life in which she could make her own choices and do whatever she wanted. She devoured book after book and then read them again. She didn't own that many books, but she loved the ones she did own and she usually tried to go to the library as often as possible during the day to read even more books there. Now, however, she was not feeling well enough to be able to walk all the way to the library, so she just stayed in. Galinda was often with her and sometimes Lulu and Delani came by as well. Shenshen visited her once and they had a long talk about the things they'd been through, talking about the pain they'd been in and the emotions they'd experienced. Elphaba was horrified to learn that Shenshen had actually come close to dying of infection after the procedure, but she'd eventually pulled through.

In all this time, she did not see that man again – the man who had helped her that first night. It bothered her that she didn't even know his name. She wondered if perhaps he'd been a traveller and he'd moved on already. She didn't know anything about him, after all, even if he knew a lot about her now.

It was nearly a week after the mystery man's visit when Galinda gushed to her friend about some prince she had been with, Prince Fiyero of the Vinkus. "He's been here for me twice before," she told Elphaba, "and he told me he'd be back, but I didn't know when. He's been with Pfannee and some of the other girls a few times now, but he liked me better, so he came back last night." She looked smug. "You should have seen Pfannee's face when I passed her in the hallway this morning. She looked like she had swallowed a snail."

Elphaba laughed. "Serves her well." The two girls were sitting in Galinda's room together, with the blonde braiding Elphaba's hair in some elaborate, fancy updo. Galinda was a little lady through and through, despite her profession; she'd always been determined to rise up high in society so that she could live her dream with a handsome husband, go to balls, have dinner parties, and wear the prettiest dresses any tailor could make.

"He said he'd be back tonight," Galinda continued, still fidgeting with her friend's hair. "I'm already looking forward to it. He's not nearly as bad as some of the other men, if you know what I mean. Oh, who am I kidding, of course you know what I mean." She shuddered. "And Fiyero's not bad on the eyes, either. You should see him! Are you off tonight?"

Elphaba shook her head, causing Galinda to yelp for her to keep her head still. "I'm not, but I can always peek into the hallway when he arrives," she said, smirking a little.

Galinda giggled. "I'll wait for him in the hallway and knock on your door when he gets there. Unless you're busy, of course." The girls didn't have the keys to lock their doors – only Morrible had those – but they all had a coloured ribbon to hang on the doorknob when they were with a client so they would not be disturbed. The ribbons, of course, matched their names, meaning Elphaba's was green and Galinda's was yellow – much to her disappointment, since she'd rather have had a pink one.

They spent the rest of the afternoon together and after dinner, they retreated to their respective rooms to change and get ready for the night. When the expected knock on the door came, Elphaba hurried over to it and opened it just a crack, peeking out into the hallway. Galinda was just leading her prince down the hallway and she winked at Elphaba, subtly turning the man as she chattered to him so that Elphaba could get a good look at him. When she did, however, she couldn't help the noise of surprise that escaped her lips and the man looked in her direction.

Fiyero instantly flushed and Galinda, looking from her shocked friend to the shocked prince, blinked at them both. "El- Emerald?" she quickly corrected herself. "What's wrong?"

"That's him," said Elphaba, opening the door a bit wider now.

She didn't need to say anything else for Galinda to understand and the blonde gasped. "This is him?" She looked up at Fiyero. "You...?" She didn't actually ask him the question. Too many ears were out here in the hallway. "Oh, wow. I would never have expected that of you – no offence intended, Your Highness."

"None taken," he said, his eyes still glued to Elphaba.

The green girl, for her part, felt a little hurt that apparently he had been here multiple times already to have fun with Galinda, Pfannee, and the other girls, but he hadn't come to seek her out again. At the same time, she felt utterly stupid and ridiculous for feeling hurt about that and she mentally kicked herself. Why would he seek her out, anyway? She'd been a snivelling mess. He'd just pitied her and tried to be nice to her because of that – it wasn't like he actually cared about her as a person or ever wanted to see her again. It wasn't like she wanted to see him again, either, other than so she could thank him once more for what he'd done.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her; but just then, another man came up the stairs, taking Elphaba in hungrily.

"Hello, Emerald," he said with a grin.

Elphaba rolled her eyes at him – he was one of her regular clients. "Hello, Surik." She glanced once more at Fiyero and Galinda. "I'm sorry. I have to go," she said. She met Fiyero's gaze for just the briefest moment. "But thank you... again... for the other day." She didn't wait for him to reply before she disappeared back into her room, pulling Surik with her and closing the door with the green ribbon on it behind her.

Thankfully, Surik usually didn't linger and so she was alone again an hour later. When the next knock on the door came, she suppressed a sigh as she opened it; but she was surprised to find Fiyero on the other side. "Your Highness?"

He brushed past her, into the room, and she shut the door before turning to look at him. The corner of her mouth turned up in a small, wry grin. "Are you here to claim the service you paid way too much money for a week ago, Your Highness?"

For a moment, he looked confused, but then his confusion turned to shock. "What? No! Oz, Elphaba, do you really think I would do that?!" he asked incredulously.

She shrugged. "I don't know," she said honestly. "It's not like I know you." She hesitated. "About last time..."

"You already thanked me," he interrupted her. "Multiple times, actually. It's fine."

She smirked. "I know. I didn't want to thank you – well, I do, but I wanted to... I wanted to apologise for last time." She grimaced. "I'm not usually such a pathetic mess. I'm sorry."

Now he looked even more shocked and a little horrified. "Are you seriously apologising now for being in pain?"

"I'm apologising for acting like a weak child and practically begging you on my knees to leave me alone," she corrected him. "I shouldn't have."

"You weren't weak," he protested. "You were desperate. That's an entirely different thing."

She moved past him and sat down on the bed, looking at him as he sank down into the chair he had occupied last time. "So... if you're not here for the same reason every other man usually is, then why are you here? You could buy yourself a second hour with Topaz, or with Ruby..."

He made a face and then bit his lip. "I suppose I... I owe you an apology."

"You, too? For what?"

"Not 'too'," he said sternly. " _You_ didn't owe me anything." She opened her mouth, but he held up his hand, effectively cutting her off. "You didn't, so stop arguing about it."

She closed her mouth again and he grinned at her. "Better. And I do owe you an apology," he said, suddenly serious again. "I was a coward. I shouldn't have avoided you all this time, but I did and I'm sorry about that."

She raised an eyebrow at him, trying to ignore the pounding of her heart. "Why would you need to apologise to me for that? You don't owe me anything, Fiyero." His name, rather than his title, slipped out of her mouth without her even realising it. "You helped me, I am grateful, and that is as far as our relationship goes. You don't need to explain yourself or your actions to me. You can do whatever you want."

He looked pained. "Maybe, but you did something to me that night that I don't think I can undo," he confessed, sighing as he pushed his hands through his sandy hair. It slipped through his fingers and fell back into his eyes. "Your story..."

She gritted her teeth and looked away from him. "Forget all of that, Fiyero. I shouldn't have said anything. You caught me at my weakest."

"But I'm glad you told me," he said immediately. He reached out as if to take her hands, but when she pulled them away, he laid his own hands on his knees instead. He still tried to meet her gaze, though. "Please don't regret that."

"What did I do, then?"

He heaved another sigh and leaned back into the chair, letting his head fall back so that he was staring at the ceiling. "You... you told me your story," he said quietly. "And it made me realise..." He rubbed his eyes, suddenly looking tired. "I am not a good person, Elphaba."

She raised an inquiring eyebrow at him.

"I'm spoilt," he continued. "I'm arrogant. I've been visiting brothels since I turned twenty and never once did I think of the women working there."

"Hardly anyone ever does," said Elphaba with a little shrug. "That doesn't make you a bad person, Fiyero."

"But it does," he disagreed. "I slept with girls and then ignored them the next day. I was rude to my parents and neglected my royal duties. I've been to six different universities before I finally managed to graduate. And never, not once, did I stop and seriously think about how those girls felt, or how my parents felt, or what the Vinkun people must think... or how frustrating my behaviour had to be to all the people out there who would kill to be me. To stand in my shoes and have the opportunities I've always had. People like... well, like you."

Elphaba shrugged again. "I'm sure I wouldn't have thought about that, either, if I had been you."

"But you would have," he argued. "Because you care. Not just about yourself, but about others, too."

She sighed. "Fiyero," she said patiently. "Everyone has their cross to bear. I'm sure being a prince – the only current heir to the Vinkun throne, if my knowledge of history and politics is accurate – is not easy, either. I have my burdens and you have yours. We all deal with them in our own way. And besides, doesn't it mean something that you see it now? If your past behaviour bothers you so much, then change. Do something about it."

He stared at her and wondered where she had come from – how she had been through so much in her life and still remained so optimistic. It was maybe hidden underneath a layer of sarcasm and fake indifference, but he could see so much passion in her. He wished he was a bit more like her.

"But basically," she said, quirking a small smile, "you're saying my story inspired you to think?"

He chuckled weakly. "Yeah. I guess you could say that. And I'll have you know that the brainless prince actually thinking, let alone thinking about so many serious things, will come as a shock to almost everyone."

Her smile was real now. "I think it's not such a bad change. So why didn't you come back here until now? What does that have to do with you thinking?"

He ran his hands over his face, thinking about that question. He knew the answer, of course, but he stalled a little. "Well, at first I didn't come back because my grandfather caught me sneaking back into the house at half past three in the morning after our night together and he wouldn't let me leave the house. He insisted we needed to have a few serious talks first."

She laughed. "He grounded you," she concluded. "How old are you, again?"

"I think he didn't feel like he had any options left." Fiyero grinned. "I'm twenty-three, by the way."

"Oh, an older man." She batted her eyelashes at him mockingly. "I like those."

He made a face at her, which made her chortle. "And then?" she asked. "Why didn't you come once you were finished talking?"

He suddenly looked ashamed. "Because I was... scared, I guess," he admitted, averting his gaze. "I was scared of everything you made me think and feel with your story and I tried to run away from it."

"That's why you visited the other girls, too, isn't it?"

He nodded, still not looking at her. "It is. That is also why I owe you an apology."

"It's fine, Fiyero. Especially if it changed you," she said seriously. "You could do great things once you are king. You just need to see the possibilities, the opportunities you have to make things better for so many people. If I somehow helped you do that, however unintentionally, then I supposed I am honoured; but really, I think it was all your own doing."

He finally looked at her. She looked back, her dark eyes unblinking, and he opened his mouth but then closed it again.

She glanced at the time. "Your hour is almost up," she said, sounding a little wistful. "You should go soon."

"My hour?" Then it dawned on him. "Oh, Fae, I didn't just pay for a single hour. We have all night, just like last time."

She blinked now. "Fae?"

"Oh." He scrunched up his nose. "That just... slipped out. I could keep it," he offered. "As a nickname? It's way shorter than 'Elphaba', after all."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Imagine pronouncing three syllables every time you address me," she deadpanned. "Isn't my friend calling me 'Elphie' enough when it comes to nicknames?"

He grinned at her. "Nope."

"What about your grandfather, though?" she asked, sobering and returning to the topic at hand. "Won't he be angry with you if you stay out that late again?"

"I'll explain things to him in the morning," Fiyero promised. "Right now, I just want to talk to you. Is that all right?"

"Will you go away if I say no?"

"No," he said. "Do you want me to go away?"

"No," she admitted.

His grin returned. He rose from the chair and flopped next to her on the bed on his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows and resting his chin in his hands. "Then, Fae, I think there are a lot more things I want to know about you."


	5. The Night's Fire

**5\. The Night's Fire**

"You're not very talkative tonight," Fiyero observed a while later. He was still sprawled on the bed. Elphaba was sitting cross-legged against the pillows at the headboard, watching him.

She shrugged. "I'm not a very talkative person."

"You were talkative last time," he pointed out, but she scoffed.

"I already told you. You caught me at my weakest then. I felt like I owed you."

"And you don't anymore?"

She scowled at him. "Do _you_ think I owe you?"

"No," he said and she smirked at him.

"There you have it."

He rolled onto his back, looking at her upside down. "But I want to know more about you, Fae," he whined. "I want to know how long you've been here with Madame Morrible, and if you remember your family, and what your childhood was like, and what you like to do, and if you have friends…"

"Two and a half years, a little, miserable, reading, and yes."

He rolled his eyes at her. "I'd like some more information, Elphaba."

"No," she said, crossing her arms. "I don't like talking about myself. I've already told you way more than I have ever told anyone after only having known them for such a short period of time. I'm not telling you anything else. My life is none of your business, Fiyero."

"Um, okay, ouch," he said, not entirely joking. He rolled back onto his stomach. "At least tell me how you're feeling now, then," he said, suddenly serious. "Are you still in pain?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine now," she assured him. "The pain is gone. Even though it hasn't been that long ago, it almost feels like it hasn't really happened to me, you know? I'm just… all back to normal by now."

He huffed. "Like that is a good thing."

"It's my life, Fiyero."

"That doesn't mean it's a good thing." He looked at her again. "Was it bad?" he asked. "The first time after…?"

She couldn't suppress her shudder. "Let's just say that first night made me even more grateful for what you did the night before," she told him. She hadn't really meant to be so honest. She didn't mean to say a lot of things around him – this strange, silly prince who couldn't see how wonderful he really was, how much his one act of kindness had meant to her – but he had this effect on her that she wasn't entirely sure she liked. Only Galinda was usually this good at getting her to talk about herself.

"That bad, huh?" Fiyero winced and she could see the guilt in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Fae. If I hadn't been so stupid and selfish, I could have come back the night after and –"

"Stop it," she snapped. She pointed a menacing finger at him. "Just because you helped me that night, Fiyero, doesn't mean you are responsible for me or have to take care of me now. I'm a big girl. It may not have seemed that way when you first saw me, but I can take care of myself."

"I know that," he said a little indignantly. "That's not what I was saying." He sighed irritably, running his fingers through his hair. "You're frustrating, do you know that? I'm trying to befriend you and to help you, and all you do is refuse to tell me about yourself and trying to push me away."

"People don't usually need me to push them away," she muttered, bowing her head and letting her long curls fall around her face. "They usually do a great job going away all by themselves – if not because of the green, then because of my profession. I'm not used to having friends, Fiyero. The only friends I have are some of the other girls here and however wonderful and genuine they are, they're mostly friendships born of circumstances."

He softened. "Well, I'm your friend now, so I'll teach you how it's done," he told her, which made her smile a little. "Lesson number one: Friends talk to their friends about themselves."

She narrowed her eyes at him. He gave her an impish grin and she shook her head, grinning as well.

"You start," she said. "If friends know all about one another, then why don't I know anything about you yet? The only reason I even know your name and the fact that you're a prince is because Topaz told me, and yet you already know so much about me – more than anyone, really, aside from my best friend."

"Topaz is your best friend?" he asked in interest.

She began to nod before she caught herself. She scowled at him. "There you go again. This was about you, not me. I'm not saying anything else until you tell me about yourself."

He chuckled. "Fair enough. What do you want to know?"

She tilted her head to the side, thoughtfully taking him in. "Well," she said teasingly, a mischievous glint in her dark brown eyes. "I already know you've been a jerk for most of your life..."

He chucked a pillow at her, but she caught it, laughing, and threw it right back at him.

"Siblings?" she asked.

"None. What you said about me being the only current heir to the throne is true – no siblings, no cousins on my mother's side. Not even an aunt or uncle."

She sat up a little, intrigued despite herself. "That's right – the throne is passed to you through your mother, right? Not your father?"

Fiyero nodded. "Mum's family is the royalty," he confirmed. "Dad just married into the royal life. In my family, the throne is always passed on to the eldest child, regardless of that child's gender. My father was of high status, but he was not a prince before he married my mum. They are equals when it comes to power, though. It doesn't matter so much who is the actual heir and who married into the family. Generally, both carry equal responsibility for the people."

Elphaba tilted her head to the side again, her ebony curls tumbling across one shoulder. "I think I like that idea," she decided. "It's pretty modern." She looked at him. "Other family? You said you're currently staying with your grandparents."

"I have an aunt, an uncle, and two cousins on my father's side," said Fiyero, "but we almost never see them anymore since they moved to the Glikkus. My maternal grandparents passed away when I was little, but my paternal ones live here, just out of town." He made a face. "My parents sent me to live with them because they hoped their simple lifestyle would help get me back on track and stop my childish behaviour," he confessed. He smiled a little wryly at Elphaba. "It wasn't the lifestyle that did that, though."

"All right, stop," she said sternly, holding up one hand. "Fiyero, my story did not change you. Youchanged yourself. The things I told you wouldn't have had any influence on you at all had you not been susceptible to them in the first place."

He opened his mouth to protest, but she wasn't done yet.

"Perhaps my story was a final nudge in the right direction," she went on hotly, "but it wasn't the reason you've suddenly started thinking about everything. You did that all by yourself. You keep talking yourself down, but you're not brainless and you're not as shallow as you think you are." She met his gaze. "You could do great things for your people, Fiyero," she said softly, "and I think you will. It's only natural for someone with your responsibilities to try and run away from them for a while, but you'll be a great king when the time comes."

He could only stare at her for a moment. "Do you really have that much faith in me?" he asked incredulously. "When you barely even know me?"

Now it was her turn to stare. She'd always thought her self-esteem was low, but she'd never expected someone like Fiyero to be able to feel the same way about himself. Did he not see what a great person he was?

"Of course I do," she said finally, softly. "I'm sure there are more people than just me who have faith in you. You just need to have faith in yourself. You're much smarter and you care a lot more than you give yourself credit for, Yero."

He wasn't sure what did it – her faith in him, the things she said, the soft look in her dark eyes, or the fact that she'd called him "Yero"; but he suddenly felt the overwhelming desire to kiss her. He leaned in a little and she tilted her head to the side once more – he'd noticed she did that whenever she was confused or thinking about something. "Fiyero?"

He was so close now that their breaths mingled and he looked at her. She blinked slowly – once, twice – and he closed the final distance between them and softly pressed his lips against hers.

She made a muffled sound of surprise against his lips, but then he felt her kiss him back, her arms slipping around his neck. He tangled his fingers in her hair and tried to deepen the kiss. She let him, her fingers moving to the buttons of his shirt, but then he stopped her.

"Fae," he breathed. "What are you doing?"

She frowned at him. "No, what are _you_ doing? Do you want to take off your own clothes? That's fine, too."

He gaped at her. " _What_?! No!"

"Make up your mind, Fiyero," she said with a frustrated sigh. "Either make use of the services you paid for or don't, but stop fooling around."

It took him a few moments to understand what she was saying, but when realisation finally dawned on him, his eyes widened in horror and he gaped at her again. " _What_?!"

She crossed her arms and leaned back against the pillows, waiting for him to say something, but it took a while before he found his tongue again.

"Fae," he said. "I told you I wouldn't do that. That's not why I'm here and I don't want that from you. We're friends, remember?"

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, because as I said, I've never had many friends," she said sarcastically, "but for some reason, I don't think friends usually stick their tongues down each other's throats."

He flushed a bright shade of red. It would have made her laugh if she wasn't so confused... and a little hurt. He'd almost had her convinced of the fact that he was different.

"I know," he said. He wasn't sure how to explain this. "I just... really... like you," he finished lamely, cringing at his own choice of words. Where was the smooth playboy prince persona he'd been keeping up for the past years?

Her eyes were wide and incredulous as she took him in. "You _like_ me?" she echoed, dumbfounded. "What the hell, Fiyero? What's that even supposed to mean? What do you want from me?"

"Nothing you don't want as well," he said immediately. He took her hand. She snatched it back and he tried to hide his disappointment at that. "Elphaba, I'm not going to take advantage of you. You can trust me."

"Can I?"

He frowned a little. "That's not fair. I helped you, didn't I? I've never tried anything before."

"No," she agreed cautiously. "Why was that? Just because you felt sorry for me?"

"At first, yes," he admitted. "But then it became more than that. Even that first night, I liked you. I wanted to get to know you better and with every new thing I learned, I started liking you more. I guess I just... oh, Oz, this is embarrassing, and maybe it's just because of the whole thinking thing, but I think... I think I'm starting to fall in love with you."

She gawked at him.

Then she threw her head back and cackled.

"You're in _love_ with me?" she guffawed. "And you really expect me to believe that? Do you think _anyone_ would ever fall in love with a whore, Fiyero? Especially a green one? And that's not even mentioning the fact that you're a _prince_ – a prince with a reputation for dating and bedding as many women as he could in as little time as possible, if Topaz's stories are correct. Then there's the fact that we've only known one another for a week... You can't be in love with me, Fiyero. This is ridiculous. I mean it – why are you here? Could you just stop playing with me and take what you came for?"

"I didn't come for that!" he shouted at her. "How many more times do I have to tell you? I like you, Elphaba. I care about you. Is that really so hard to believe?"

"Yes!" she yelled back at him. "People like you don't care about people like me! The fact that you insisted on being friends was ridiculous enough, but this is just preposterous! You can't be in love with me, especially not after spending just two nights together!"

"Well, I am," he told her angrily. "Don't ask me why, but I am. Do you think that's easy for me to admit? After spending years trying to deny the fact that love even exists and acting like girls are only there for pleasure? You can keep denying it, Fae, but you _did_ change me and I barely even know you. Don't you think that scares me, too?"

She fell silent, just watching him as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and got off the bed. He started pacing back and forth, trying to sort out his thoughts. Then he suddenly stopped and looked at her again. "You're a hypocrite," he accused her.

Startled, she sat up straighter, bristling at his accusation. "Excuse me?"

"You're preaching to me about not giving myself enough credit and having to have more faith in myself, and yet here you are, talking yourself down. Why wouldn't I be able to care about you? What makes you such a horrible person? The green skin? The job? If those things make you a bad person, Elphaba, then my past actions definitelymake _me_ a bad person." He folded his arms in front of his chest and raised his chin. "So, there. Where does that leave us? Are we both terrible people or are we maybe both not as bad as we think we are?"

Elphaba glared at him, pulling her knees up to her chest. Fiyero stared back defiantly and raised his eyebrows, silently asking her for a reply; but she just narrowed her eyes at him.

Then she suddenly started to chortle.

Fiyero blinked, taken aback. He had not seen that coming. "What?" he demanded.

"Look at us," said Elphaba, grinning as she indicated the both of them. "Are we really arguing right now about which one of us is less of a horrible person than the other?"

Fiyero considered that and then the corners of his mouth turned up. "We are, aren't we? I suppose that is a little silly."

"Just a little," she agreed, chuckling. She shook her head and sobered. "I don't know, Fiyero. This is a little hard for me to believe."

He bit his lip. "I know." He sighed and approached her, sitting back down on the bed and burying his face in his hands for a moment. "I'm sorry. It came out of the blue, too. We'll just see how things go, okay?"

She hesitated, but then said quietly, "Okay, I guess."

He looked at her. "Are you tired?" he asked, suddenly concerned. "You look tired."

She gave him a wry smile. "I haven't slept all that well the past week."

"Sleep now, then," he urged her. "I don't mind. I'll just nap in the chair again."

"Don't be silly." She crawled under the blankets and scooted over, arching an eyebrow at him.

He grinned at her and joined her in the bed, which was big enough for at least three people to fit in. A part of him longed to pull her closer (and a different part of him longed to do entirely different things to her), but he silenced all the suggestive voices in his head and simply said, "Thanks. 'Night, Fae."

"Good night," she whispered, watching him. He turned onto his side, his back towards her; and she heaved a small sigh and then turned onto her other side, figuring she might as well make use of the unexpected chance to get some extra sleep.

* * *

 **Favourite lines? :)**


	6. The Family's Talk

**I'm glad you're all still liking this story! A lot of you seem to be waiting for something bad to happen. As I said before, I mainly focused on Elphaba and Fiyero's relationship in this story and on how it changes both of them; but of course there will be drama, too, at some point. This chapter, though, gives some background information on Fiyero's family and the girls in Morrible's brothel.**

* * *

 **6\. The Family's Talk**

When Fiyero got home the next morning, his grandmother was the one sitting in the kitchen, although Fiyero doubted she'd been there all night. He'd stayed out a bit longer tonight than last time, just wandering the streets and losing himself in thought, and he knew Calinne liked to rise early. Being up at six in the morning wasn't such a strange thing for her.

The prince sighed as he lingered in the doorway. "Let me guess. We need to talk?"

His grandmother's lips quirked into a half-smile. "How did you guess?"

"It's not what you think, though," Fiyero defended himself. He faltered when he realised where his grandparents probably thought he had been and where he had really been, exactly. "All right, well... it sort of iswhat you think," he conceded, "but I didn't _do_ what you think I did. Or," he corrected himself again, grimacing, "I _did_ , but then I... Oz, this is hard to explain."

"Why don't you tell me where you were, dear," Calinne suggested, cradling a cup of tea between her hands. "I think your grandfather and I have let you get away with this nonsense for long enough now, don't you? Frankly, I think _everyone_ has been letting you get away with your behaviour for too long already."

He bristled. "It isn't nonsense and no-one has ever let me get away with it. Mum and Dad have tried –"

"Oh, I'm sure a lot of people have tried," his grandmother interjected, her brown eyes piercing. "But it wasn't until recently that someone actually succeeded, was it?"

He gawked at her.

She smiled and patted the seat of the chair next to her. "Take a seat, dear," she advised him. "And a cup of tea, too, perhaps. This might take a while."

"How did you know?" he asked her even as he poured himself a cup of tea and sat down next to Calinne. "Was it that obvious?"

"A mother sees these things," said Calinne. "I may not be _your_ mother, but I'm a mother nonetheless. You're a lot like your father, did you know that? In a lot of different ways, actually. He insisted on digging in his heels, too, at about the same age you started all this. Like father, like son, I suppose." She regarded him shrewdly. "Is it a girl?"

He spluttered and she laughed. "You're different, Fiyero," she told him. "It's not that hard to see. It's equally clear that you're still a little bit in denial about it, but that's all right. You'll get there. Who is she? And how come you're still returning home so late? Do you need such a long walk to clear your head every time you've seen her or is there some other reason for it?"

Fiyero sighed, glumly sipping his tea. "There's a different reason." He hesitated, but his grandmother suddenly frowned and leaned forward, sniffing Fiyero's clothes.

She was still frowning when she looked at him. "Have you been to _The Fish's Lair_ again?" she asked him. "You've smelt like this a lot the past week – like that horrible perfume Morrible always uses on everything to make the place smell good."

He tried to make light of it. "Well, of course I've been there. I'm a twenty-three-year-old guy who is forced to live with his grandparents. There's a brothel here. Guys like me get bored, you know, Grandma."

Calinne wasn't fooled, however. "Oh, Fiyero," she said, heaving a deep sigh. "It's one of Madame Morrible's girls?" As before, she didn't wait for a reply. "While I'm glad you've found someone whom you feel understands you, dear – assuming that that is what turned you around – I can't say I'm happy it's one of those girls."

"Why not?" Fiyero demanded, suddenly angry. "What's wrong with them? Just because they do that work, doesn't mean –"

" _Fiyero_ ," Calinne cut him off sternly. "That is not what I meant. I do not judge people by their lives or their profession, unlike yourself – for the past years, at least."

Fiyero looked down, ashamed; and his grandmother placed her hand over his.

"But I worry for you," she told him gravely. "If you really care so much about this girl, you're going to want to take her away from here, perhaps even make her your queen, and that is going to be a very hard thing to do. Madame Morrible doesn't let her girls go easily and the Vinkus will have a hard time accepting a former prostitute as their queen."

"I don't care about the Vinkus," Fiyero said hotly. Upon seeing his grandmother's scrutinising look, he amended, "All right, fine, I do. I guess. A little. But I'd figure something out, Grandma. As for Morrible, she knows who I am and she likes me. I pay her a lot. I'd pay her even more to get Elphaba free – so much she wouldn't be able to refuse. And besides," he added, "who ever said anything about marriage? I hardly even know her. We've only kissed once and I'm not even sure that counted as a real kiss. I won't deny that I care about her, but there is no way I'm marrying _anyone_ anytime soon." Of that, he was certain, no matter how much he might have changed in such a short period of time.

Calinne sighed, but didn't say anything else. She stared down into her tea for a while, lost in thought, before looking up and taking in her grandson's appearance.

"Why don't you go and get some sleep?" she suggested. "You look terrible. We can continue this talk later today, when your grandfather is awake as well."

Fiyero agreed and pushed away from the table with a sigh, trudging out of the kitchen and into his bedroom, where he kicked off his shoes and then collapsed on the bed, still fully clothed, only to wake up hours later because the late morning sun was shining into his eyes. His head was pounding and he groaned. He hadn't even had anything to drink the night before. If this was what thinking felt like, he wondered if maybe he was better off sticking with his brainless act.

Then he thought of Elphaba, however, and the things she'd said to him – about him being able to help people, make good, and be a great king – and he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

He'd meant it when he'd asked her if she really had that much faith in him. He had been causing trouble since his early teenage years and he'd been partying and evading his royal responsibilities since he was eighteen; he didn't think any of the people around him had had faith in him in a long time. Even his parents and grandparents had given up on him at some point... or so he'd thought. He was starting to think now, after this talk with his grandmother, that maybe they'd never actually given up on him. Maybe they'd just been biding their time, waiting for something to happen that would coax him into changing his ways – knowing that something like that _would_ happen at some point.

The talk he had with both his grandparents that day was long and exhausting, but good. He told them all about Elphaba and he even talked to them about how he had felt all these years, knowing he couldn't choose what he wanted to do with his life. They understood, but they also explained to him how it had made his family feel – that his parents felt guilty because they never wanted to force this responsibility on him, but didn't have a choice. Fiyero had never known that and that, in turn, made _him_ feel guilty. He'd only seen his own unhappiness and it hit him now how selfish he had really been.

"Write to them," Kevon advised him. "Tell them everything you just told us. They'd want to know. They'll be thrilled to have their son back, Yero – they've felt like they couldn't reach you for so long, they'll be happy to really be in touch with you again."

Fiyero followed his grandfather's advice and wrote Hamold and Lori a long letter, explaining the way he'd always felt and the reasons for his behaviour and apologising for it. He felt lighter, afterwards. He actually found himself wondering why he hadn't done this sooner, but then he thought of all the royal duties that lay ahead of him, all the expectations and responsibilities, and he remembered why he'd started rebelling in the first place.

Still, he promised himself that was in the past now. He would try to be better from now on. If he could help even one girl like Elphaba when he was king, it would be worth it.

* * *

Elphaba was glad to be feeling completely well again now, allowing her to venture into town the day after Fiyero's second visit to spend her afternoon at the library. She'd always loved to read. When she was a little girl in the orphanage, she used to dream of studying at a university one day and becoming someone important. Of course, reality had soon forced her to let go of that dream, but she'd never given up on trying to learn as much as she could about anything. After all, one never knew when such knowledge might come in handy.

This time, however, she couldn't quite keep her attention on her book. She knew why that was. She could never concentrate when she was thinking about something and right now, she just couldn't stop thinking about Fiyero and why in Oz he would have kissed her if he wasn't interested in... well, what every other man who came to her was interested in.

She kept musing over that as she walked back, carrying three books with her to _The Hidden Depths_. She was still thinking about it that night, as she spent her night off sprawled on her bed on her stomach with her feet up in the air, reading the books she'd brought. Galinda was working, but Lulu was off as well and Elphaba sneaked out of her room at some point to visit the other girl.

Elphaba had never bonded with many of the other girls. They were all sent away at age twenty-five, when Morrible thought they were getting too old to attract the audience she wanted, so a girl left every year or so. New recruits came in sometimes, but not very often, so the group of girls had remained mostly the same since Elphaba had come here. Morrible usually kept between eight and twelve girls and many of those who joined were only barely sixteen and had been kicked out of the orphanage and sold themselves to Morrible until their twenty-fifth birthdays out of necessity, just like Elphaba. There were, after all, only so many ways a young female orphan could stay alive in the streets.

Of the others, Ruby – Pfannee – had been working here the longest: over seven years, since she was sixteen. Crystal, or Milla, had come in not long after Pfannee and the two had already been friends when Elphaba had arrived. They were two of the girls who actually enjoyed what they did and had no intention of leaving as long as they were still treated well by Morrible. They were also Morrible's favourites, so they had more rights and liberties than the other girls did.

Onyx – Shenshen – and Jade – Delani – had both been here for five years, also since they were sixteen. Galinda had come in when she was fifteen and so had worked here for nearly four years now; she had been the newest girl before Elphaba came and the two of them had become friends immediately, both still relatively new to everything, each with her own story, needing someone to confide in. Elphaba was still incredibly grateful for her frilly, blonde, pink-loving best friend. Galinda had been the one to talk her through those first few weeks and teach the green girl everything about this life. When Elphaba had asked her why, Galinda had simply smiled.

"Girls like us need to look out for one another, Elphie," she'd said. "With lives like ours, we don't trust easily, but we need at least one person to have our back or we'll go crazy. I'll have your back if you've got mine." From that day on, Galinda had become the best – and then only – friend Elphaba had ever had. She'd had an even rougher life than Elphaba, in some ways; she'd known a normal life and the love of a family, but her parents had passed away in an accident when she was twelve. Galinda had been sent off to live with her aunt in the Vinkus, who treated her like garbage and only accepted custody of the young Gillikinese girl to get access to her parents' money. Grieving and scared, Galinda had endured that treatment from her aunt for three years before catching Morrible's eye on the street. Morrible, knowing Galinda would make a very desirable addition to her girls and being familiar with Galinda's aunt, had talked to the other woman and Galinda's aunt had agreed to sell her niece to Morrible's brothel for a high price. It was horrifying, but stories like that one were reality for most of Morrible's girls.

Sapphire, or Lulu, had come after Elphaba, when Elphaba had been with Madame Morrible for nearly a year. Keeping Galinda's words and her own experience in mind, Elphaba had been the one to approach the terrified young girl, sixteen at the time and straight from the orphanage, to try and help her through everything. The two had bonded over some mutual experiences in their past as well as a shared dislike of most of the other girls, such as Pfannee and Milla, because of their arrogant attitudes and desperate desire to be the best in their profession. Lulu mostly kept to herself and so did Elphaba, but that was fine with both of them – neither of them talked much, anyway. Sometimes they just sat together in the same room for hours, Elphaba reading and Lulu embroidering, without so much as saying a word. Elphaba valued that about their friendship; it was quite different from Galinda's cheerful, idle chatter, but the green girl loved it just as much.

Lulu was only barely eighteen now, a child still, really; and Elphaba often worried about her. Despite the fact that new girls had come in after Lulu (Diamond, or Olia, come in a year ago at age sixteen; Amethyst, or Nalenne, come in half a year ago at age fifteen; and Pearl, or Falin, come in half a year ago at age sixteen), they had all seemed to cope better with the whole change than Lulu had. Even now, Elphaba felt like out of all of them, Lulu was the one who seemed the least suitable for this kind of life and the most easily broken. She hated doing what she did, but she had nowhere else to go, much like Elphaba herself and some of the other girls.

Now, Elphaba slipped into Lulu's room. The younger girl looked up from her embroidery and flashed Elphaba a smile; the green girl returned the smile and then curled up in the arm chair across from Lulu's with her book. Lulu reached out to pour her friend a cup of tea from the teapot on the side table and pushed it in Elphaba's direction before returning to her embroidery, content to spend the night in companionable silence. That was just how their friendship was and honestly, Elphaba wouldn't have it any other way.


	7. The Good Friends' Value

**7\. The Good Friends' Value**

"Is it true?" Lulu asked one afternoon when she, Galinda, and Elphaba were spending some time together in Galinda's room. "About you and Prince Fiyero?"

Elphaba grimaced. "That depends on what you've heard." Galinda was brushing her hair, slowly running the hairbrush through her friend's tangled curls, brow furrowed in concentration as she focused on this seemingly very important task. Elphaba would never stop being amazed at how obsessed the blonde was with beauty and fashion.

"I heard he's been here quite a few times," said Lulu, watching Elphaba closely. "Galinda told me what he did for you that first night after your... um... absence." Elphaba rolled her eyes at the other girl's choice of words, but Lulu ignored that, just like Elphaba ignored the mention of Galinda – she'd have scolded her friend for talking about Fiyero when Elphaba tried so hard to keep it a secret, but they both knew Lulu could be trusted with the information. "I've heard that he keeps seeking you out, almost every night you're available, and that he often stays until Madame Morrible has to ask him to leave when she closes at three in the morning."

"That is true," said Elphaba carefully.

Lulu grinned at her. "Someone has also told me that there might be something blooming between His Royal Highness and you."

Elphaba scoffed. "There's no need to ask who that someone was." She glared at Galinda, who didn't look at her friend at all and just continued brushing the long, ebony curls. "But no, Lulu, that is not true."

"Is, too!" said Galinda suddenly, unable to keep quiet. She pointed the hairbrush at Elphaba. "You know it, Elphie. He keeps coming back for you and I don't believe for a clock-tick that it's because he thinks you're so good in bed." Elphaba blushed, but the smaller girl kept ranting. "You told me yourself that you haven't even slept together yet. He likes you. Probably not just as a friend, either. Stop denying it, because it's obvious to everyone but you."

"Galinda," the green girl said impatiently. "How could he possibly like me?"

Galinda softened. "Oh, Elphie. Is that why you won't admit it?" She walked around to sit across from Elphaba, rather than behind her, and she took her friend's hands in her own. "Elphaba, you are a wonderful, beautiful, and sweet girl with big brains and an even bigger heart," she told her earnestly. "Don't tell me he said anything to you to make you believe you aren't worthy of him, because if he did, I'll kick him in the nuts wearing stiletto heels."

Lulu giggled. Elphaba smirked, but then sobered and shook her head.

"He didn't," she said. "I just –"

"I know you, Elphie," Galinda cut her off sternly. "Stop right there. None of the things you are thinking about yourself are true."

Lulu, meanwhile, was regarding Elphaba closely. "You really like him, don't you?" she asked quietly. "I can tell."

Elphaba's head shot up and Lulu smiled.

"It's not so hard to see," she said.

Elphaba bit her lip. "He kissed me," she admitted. "I thought he just wanted... you know. But he said he liked me. He said he thinks he might be falling in love with me." She sighed and shook her head. "How could I possibly ever know what he really wants from me, though?"

"You feel it," Galinda said simply. "Right here." She tapped Elphaba's chest, right over her heart. "It takes some trust and I know that is hard for you, but you can do it, Elphie. Have a little faith. Please. I can tell he makes you happy and we all deserve to be happy, if we can."

Lulu looked sad, all of a sudden, and Elphaba glanced at her. "You will be, too, one day," she told the younger girl. "Happy, I mean."

She quirked a sad smile. "I know. I'm just... wondering when that day will come, I guess."

"It's hard on you, isn't it?" Galinda asked sympathetically, moving to sit behind Lulu on the bed instead and starting to run her hairbrush through the younger girl's dark hair. "All of this. Some of us actually _like_ it, most of us manage to deal with it, but I've noticed before that you seemed to have a really hard time adjusting and it's still not easy for you to do what we do."

"Is it easy on any of you, though?" Lulu asked reasonably.

Elphaba scoffed. "Not exactly."

Galinda shook her head as well. "It's not," she said. "Never has been. But as I said, we manage. We each find our own way to handle it, but you seem to be having as much difficulty with it now as you did when you first got here."

Lulu's shoulders slumped and she leaned forward, resting her chin in her hands. "I know," she said miserably. "I hate it. I'll live, but I still hate it. How will it ever get better?" she asked, her voice trembling a little. "After being here for over a year and a half, I still have to force myself to do this every night and I'm not even halfway there yet by far. Even once Morrible does release me when I'm twenty-five, where would I go? I'd have the money she saved for me, but I won't be able to live off that forever. Not being able to take care of myself is why I ended up with her in the first place."

"It's why we all did," said Galinda as she began to braid Lulu's hair.

And it was. The girls ended up here because they had no other way to keep themselves alive and Morrible offered them food, shelter, and money in exchange for their services. She hardly ever allowed a girl to leave before her twenty-fifth birthday, determined to use them until they were getting "too old" for this job; and she kept their share of the money they earned in reserve for them until that day, too, unless they asked for a small portion of it in order to be able to buy potions, clothes, or trinkets for themselves. In other professions, there would be laws against employers using their employees that way, but not here. No-one cared about the people dangling at the bottom of society – the beggars, the thieves, the orphans, or the girls who had no way to keep themselves alive unless they sold their bodies to men for money.

"Delani feels even more hopeless," Lulu said quietly. "It's been five years and it's getting harder on her every day. All she wants is to be free, but she still has such a long way to go."

"Is she still taking those potions?" Galinda asked.

Lulu nodded sadly and Elphaba sighed. They knew Delani wasn't the only girl of Morrible's resorting to substances. Delani, as well as Milla and sometimes Falin, occasionally bought potions from shady vendors in the back alleys of Reins. It wasn't encouraged, but Morrible also didn't forbid it and some of the girls used such things as a way to deal with the pressure and the unhappiness.

"She's growing desperate," Lulu said, biting her lip. Galinda gave her a brief hug from behind in an attempt to comfort her.

They were all desperate, Elphaba thought as she looked at her two friends. They all wanted to get away from here, but they all knew they couldn't until Morrible would let them leave and they were certain they would never have to go back to this life again.

When she was a little girl, for the first while after having been left at the orphanage by her father, she'd cried a lot. She'd felt betrayed and abandoned and she didn't understand what she had done wrong, although she'd always remembered the words her father had spat at her as he'd pushed his struggling, three-year-old daughter away from him with a look of disgust on his face: " _You are a disgrace. It was bad enough when you were just green, but now you've also killed your mother and crippled your sister – are you happy now? Your mother would turn in her grave if she knew about this. She'd agree with me. You are an abomination and I should have done this a long time ago_." He'd turned around then and left, ignoring her cries of "Daddy!" as the door to the orphanage opened and she was taken inside.

Frex had purposefully taken her to a place far away from his home and his precious Nessarose. She'd cried and she'd felt sad and guilty, believing the things he had said to her about her mother and sister. After a few years, the anger had set in when she'd recognised that no matter what her father had thought she might or might not have done, she'd only been a child and he'd blamed her for everything that had gone wrong in his life and sent her away. She'd been angry all the time then for a while, fighting with the other kids and kicking at the walls.

Eventually, however, she had resigned herself to her fate, but she had promised herself that someday she would be able to do whatever she wanted and she was going to change things in Oz. She was going to make things better for children like herself, for the people no-one else looked twice at, and she was going to show her father that he had made a mistake when he'd called her a disgrace and banned her from his family.

That resolve, that determination, was what had gotten her through all these years. It was what kept her going through the endless days full of hard work and with little food back at the orphanage. It was what kept her from breaking down when she'd had to leave the orphanage at age sixteen and wandered the streets for months, stealing and begging to keep herself alive. It was also what had enabled her to endure the torments of life with Madame Morrible, of doing this work without losing her mind or resorting to substances as some of the other girls had done.

"Elphaba?"

The green girl blinked and looked up. Galinda had finished braiding Lulu's hair and both girls' eyes were on Elphaba now.

"Are you all right, Elphie?" asked Galinda.

Elphaba nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry," she apologised. "I just... zoned out. I got lost in thought, I guess."

"Again?" the blonde teased and Elphaba stuck out her tongue.

Lulu, however, was still eyeing her worriedly. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked. "If something's wrong or you feel bad, or anything like that... then you know you can come talk to me, right? Or to Galinda?"

"I do," Elphaba assured her, a little puzzled. "I'm fine, Lulu. Are you?"

Lulu nodded, then shook her head. She sighed. "I don't know," she admitted. "It's like you said – it's so hard, and now I'm so concerned about Delani... I really feel like she can't go on for much longer, but she won't talk to me. She and you two are the only people I have left," she said quietly.

Elphaba smiled sympathetically at her. "I know. It'll be okay, Lulu, really. We all feel that way sometimes, you know. We all get desperate and miserable and we all break down occasionally, but we also always get up again."

"Exactly," said Galinda. She reached out to pat Lulu's arm. "Everything will be all right."

Elphaba glanced at the time and grimaced. "I have to go. Work night. I'm beginning downstairs in the common room tonight." She rolled her eyes.

Galinda wrinkled her nose. "Oh, me too!"

"Wonderful," said Elphaba, not entirely joking. "At least I'll have someone to exchange weird looks with – especially since Milla is the other girl working the common room tonight."

Galinda and Lulu both giggled and the latter rose to her feet. "I'll go back to my room, then," she said. "I have the night off, so I think I'll just relax and go to sleep early. Good luck, you two."

"Thanks," Elphaba said sarcastically and Galinda added, "We'll need it."

* * *

"I am terribly sorry, Your Highness," Madame Morrible said smoothly. "Emerald is busy tonight. We have plenty of other girls available, though, if you want to –"

"It's all right," Fiyero interrupted. "Those men over there are friends of mine. I'll just join them." He flashed the woman a winning smile and then moved past her and farther into the common room, where a group of men was already sitting, laughing with beers in hand and girls perched in three of their laps. One of them was a sultry girl who was enthusiastically making out with the man whose lap she was sitting on; one of the others he recognised as Topaz. She was giggling at everything the men said and exchanged looks with the third girl every now and then.

The third girl was Elphaba, which was the only reason why he'd lied to Morrible about knowing the men already being entertained by her and the other girls.

Fiyero joined the group of men, swiftly involving a few of them in conversation, and soon they passed him a beer and acted like they'd all been friends for the longest time already. He caught Elphaba looking at him from the corners of her eyes at some point, but when he looked at her, she quickly looked away. She giggled, too, he noticed, but he didn't once see her dimples.

When she had eventually been passed on by several of the men and ended up in Fiyero's lap, he tightened his grip on her to keep her there and murmured into her ear, "Any chance I can save you from them tonight?"

"No," she said quietly. "Common room duty means we have to stay here and entertain these men until they take us upstairs. No other clients."

"I'm one of the men here now," he pointed out, but she just gave him a weary smile.

"I appreciate your efforts, Fiyero," she said. "But you can't protect me from this – any of this. Not all the time. You're very sweet, but this is what I do and Madame Morrible is already a little suspicious because you come here asking for me all the time. It would be better if you stayed away for a little while and only visited me occasionally, or perhaps during the day."

He started to protest, but she silenced him. "If you really want to spend time with me, meet me at the library tomorrow at noon," she told him and then another man whisked her away again.

* * *

 **89 reviews! (Although the review count I see in my "Manage Stories" tab is off by one.) I'm sure we can make it to 100 before I post the next chapter - who's it going to be? :)**


	8. The Small Town's Secrets

**The virtual what-was-it-again-I-promised-in-my-last-AN for the 100th review goes to Emerald Minded Fictionist! :) But of course I want to thank you all for your lovely reviews.**

 **And Elphaba'sGirl, it's nice to see you again! Is it me or have you been gone for a while? I can't PM you, so I'll just have to ask you here - how are you?**

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 **8\. The Small Town's Secrets**

He did meet her the next day, of course. When he arrived at the library, he didn't see her at first, but he eventually located her curled up in an armchair with a book. She was so engrossed in the story that she didn't even notice him until he stopped right in front of her and loudly cleared this throat.

She started. "Oh, Fiyero! I'm sorry, I lost track of time," she apologised. Then she smiled, showing her dimples again. "You came."

"Of course I came," he said a little indignantly. "I meant what I said about wanting to be friends and not wanting anything else from you. I just want to spend time with you."

She closed her book and rose to her feet. "Shall we go for a walk?" she asked, holding the book to her chest. "It's lovely weather today."

He agreed and watched her sneak another wistful look at her book before putting it away and following him outside.

"Do you go to the library often?" he asked her as they walked.

She nodded. "I love to read," she said. "I don't have a library card, though, so I have to read most books here and can't take them with me. I have some old books back in my room, too. Two of them are still from when I lived at the orphanage – we got gifts, occasionally, just second-hand things people donated to the orphanage. Everyone knew I loved books." She smiled a little. "One book is from my time on the streets… and yes, I'll admit it, I stole it," she confessed. "It was just an old, damaged book lying at the back of a market stall and I couldn't resist." She was blushing a little, but Fiyero just laughed.

"The other one I got from Galinda and Lulu," she said, her smile returning at the memory, "for my eighteenth birthday. Lulu had only been with us for a short while then, but she insisted on thanking me for helping her through her initial time at Morrible's and she and Galinda asked Morrible for some of their earnings to buy me a second-hand book. It's the only real gift I've ever gotten," she confided in him. "I love it."

Fiyero tried not to look too stricken at the thought of never having received a present – or of two of the girls saving what little they earned (he assumed it was little, anyway) to buy their friend a birthday present. "Galinda and Lulu?" he asked instead.

She bit her lip. "Oh. I suppose I can trust you… right?" She didn't wait for him to reply, but clarified simply, "Topaz and Sapphire."

"Ah." He nodded. "You mentioned that Topaz is your best friend."

She nodded and told him about the other girls – at what ages they had come in, how well she knew them, and which ones of them she had befriended. She explained that there was a handful of girls who worked at Morrible's because they actually liked their job, but that most of them were there out of pure necessity.

"How often do you work?" he asked her at some point as they wandered the streets.

"Usually, we have one night off each week," Elphaba answered, "and one day in weekends. We don't work during the day on weekdays because almost no-one comes in then, but we do work on Saturdays and Sundays. It's not so bad, really," she said a little defensively when she saw the look on his face. "It's only from eight to three – one in the afternoon to three at night in weekends – and it's only the… well, the regular stuff." She flushed, averting her gaze, and tucked her hands deeper in the pockets of her old cardigan. "Some madams make their girls work every day and make them do everything."

Everything. Fiyero didn't even want to try to imagine what that would entail. "So Morrible does protect you from such things? Things like… well, other things? Say, if two men wanted to… um…" Now he flushed, too, but Elphaba didn't see that. She still kept her gaze firmly trained on the ground. "For example… share one girl…?" Fiyero ploughed on, his face feeling like it was on fire. "Morrible wouldn't allow that to happen to you, right?"

Elphaba hesitated.

 _She hesitated_. Fiyero instantly felt nauseous.

"It's a general rule," the green girl said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "Most customers know the rules and abide by them. When two men ask to share a girl or when they ask for something else that isn't… well, regular stuff… she'll tell them she won't allow that, but she doesn't monitor anything too closely. It happens, and it's not like she'd do anything if we complained to her about it – except perhaps for making us work on our free night and telling us to be grateful the rules even exist."

That did nothing to settle Fiyero's stomach and he blanched. "Has anyone ever…? I mean, has anything like that ever…?"

"…happened to me?" she finished for him. "Nothing too bad, thank Oz. Mostly just, um… regular stuff with some… embellishments, I guess you could say." She grimaced, feeling awkward. "You know, some men like to feel dominant and powerful… I think you get the picture," she said, knowing her face was probably an interesting shade of purplish green right now. "Please don't make me explain any of that."

"Oh, no, I got it," Fiyero assured her. He looked exactly the opposite of her now, she noticed – pale as a sheet. "But no… multiple men, or anything?"

She shook her head. "No," she said quietly. "Although that's only a matter of time. Things like that have happened to a lot of the other girls, especially the ones who have been there for a longer period of time." She shrugged. "Morrible only protects her favourites – the ones who actually want to be there, such as Pfannee and Milla. When they complain to her about the clients' behaviour, she'll deny those men access to the girls. Then again, they also get more days off and more money," she said bitterly. "It's not exactly fair, but life never really is, in my experience."

Fiyero's heart ached for her.

"Turn left here," she told him as if they had just been talking about the weather. "Have you ever been to the park?"

He shook his head dumbly and she smiled. "You have to know about it to be able to find it." She beckoned him and led the way, slipping between some houses and walking at the back of them for a while, past the river flowing there. She crossed a small bridge over the river and Fiyero followed her until they indeed reached a park. Elphaba sat down on a bench, pulling her feet up underneath her.

"I come here a lot," she said. "To get some peace and quiet, and to think. Sometimes to read. In summer, when it's warmer, you can find me here all the time."

"I'll remember that." He sat down beside her and stared across the park. A mother duck with a bunch of ducklings waddled past some distance away in the direction of the river and Fiyero could hear the birds singing in the trees. He understood why Elphaba liked to come here. It was a nice, peaceful place. "Speaking of warmth..."

"No, I don't have anything warmer than this," she said, guessing what he meant to ask. She drew her cardigan tighter around her and Fiyero noticed how threadbare it was. "Madame Morrible only provides us with clothes for work – silk robes, undergarments, and tiny dresses – and the rest we have to buy from our own money. We're all saving that as much as we can to be able to provide for ourselves once we get out of here, though, so we only rarely spend it on things like clothes. Even Galinda values her freedom more than her fashion sense." She chuckled softly, but Fiyero didn't laugh with her.

"You'll catch your death," he muttered, eyeing her. "Especially in winter."

Elphaba shrugged. "I mostly stay inside in winter," she said. "Spending the silver Morrible saved for me on a winter coat would mean at least four less months of being able to feed myself once I'm free and I don't want that."

He could see her point and he admired her for it. He noticed how she huddled in her raggedy cardigan, though, the goose-bumps on her skin and the way she shivered, and he shrugged off his own jacket and draped it across her shoulders.

She protested. "You don't have to –"

"Shush," he told her and much to his surprise, she closed her mouth and didn't say anything else, merely pulling the jacket tighter around herself.

They got up and started walking again a while later, with Elphaba showing him around the little town, and they exchanged more information about themselves as they went. Fiyero told her about his life, the riches his family owned and the way he had grown up; and Elphaba shared her stories from the orphanage, her time on the street, and her time with Madame Morrible. When he asked her if she'd eaten yet, she just shrugged and told him she hadn't had anything since breakfast, but that was okay because she usually skipped lunch, anyway, and she'd just have dinner back at the brothel. Of course, he then took her to one of the small restaurants Reins had and forced her to pick a proper meal from the menu, insisting on paying for her.

"You don't have to," she said, shifting uncomfortably. "I can just go back to Morrible's and have dinner there. It's fine."

"Is the food good there?" he asked pointedly and she made a face, which was all the reply he needed. They continued to make easy conversation as they ate their dinner and when they started walking again, Elphaba tucked her arm through Fiyero's, much to his surprise. He told her about the talk he'd had with his grandparents and the letter he'd sent to Adurin Iir and she smiled, displaying her dimples again.

"I'm proud of you," she said. "You really did change, didn't you?"

He thought about that for a moment. "You know what?" he said finally, actually surprised himself. "I think I did."

She chortled.

They walked in silence for a while and then Fiyero blurted out, "So… was this a date?"

Elphaba instantly let go of him, stopped walking, and stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"Well," he said sheepishly. "We met up, we spent time together, and I bought you dinner… That sort of sounds like a date, right?"

Elphaba looked very weary, suddenly, and she leaned back against the wall. "Fiyero," she said tiredly. "I honestly do not have any idea what to do with you."

He barked a laugh. "No-one does, I think."

She shook her head at him, sighing as she pushed her hands deeper into the pockets of Fiyero's jacket. She didn't even seem to realise she was still wearing it, but Fiyero wasn't going to mention it. "I really just… don't understand what you want from me," she confessed. "It's hard for me to accept you wanting to be friends, let alone something more, because I just can't understand it. Why? What do you see in me that makes you want to come closer? I don't get it."

"How can you not get it?" he asked fiercely. "Elphaba, you're beautiful – that's one thing. Your skin, your hair, your eyes, your _everything_ – you're beautiful. Then there's the fact that you're also incredibly smart, and passionate, and that you're kind and you care a lot and you see right through people and… Oz, I could go on for hours. How can you not get that?"

She smiled sadly and shook her head again. "I don't see any of those things in myself. All my life, I've been told I was ugly – because of the green, and because I'm skinny and pointy and sharp everywhere… I'm not like Galinda."

"You don't have to be," he insisted. "You're beautiful exactly _because_ you're not like Galinda. You're unique."

She sighed. "If you say so. And all the other things you mentioned… they never mattered, you see? Maybe I am smart, but it's not like I could ever put my intelligence to good use. Who cares if I'm kind or passionate? There was never anyone there to care. All people see is a raggedy green girl who has to sell herself to men for money."

"People are ignorant and blind," said Fiyero, stepping closer to her. She flinched away from him a little and he held up both hands, feeling slightly hurt. "Hey. I'm not going to hurt you."

"No," she murmured, feeling heat creeping up into her cheeks once more. She ducked her head. "I know. I'm sorry. It's an instinctive reaction, I guess."

"No-one ever came this close to you?" he asked, understanding and hating it, and she nodded.

"Not many people, anyway," she said, "and not often. Certainly not men – not without ulterior motives."

He touched her arm – gently, carefully. "Let me show you what it's like, then," he implored. "To have a friend, to have someone who cares about you – _really_ cares about you. Just let me help you, Fae. Let me in. I promise you won't regret it."

She glanced up at him through her eyelashes. "Is that what you said to all those other girls you bedded?" she inquired sceptically.

He recoiled and she bit her lip. "I'm sorry. That wasn't fair," she apologised, ashamed of herself. "I have a big mouth and no filter, in case you haven't noticed yet. You didn't deserve that, not after everything you've done for me."

"Stop talking about everything I've done for you," he told her in exasperation. "I don't want anything in exchange for that. You don't owe me anything, Elphaba. Not even an apology, because you're right to question my motives and my sincerity when I tell you such things. Anyone would, knowing about my reputation."

She nodded, not entirely convinced.

He moved closer again. "It's different with you, though," he told her, raising his hand to gently brush some stray strands of raven hair away from her face. "You're different. You make me want to be different. Believe it or not, but I really am in love with you, Fae, and I'll prove it to you, too."

"How?" she breathed, her dark eyes searching his face, and he leaned in closer and captured her lips in a soft, gentle kiss.

"Like this," he whispered, drawing away from her again and smiling at the slightly dazed look on her face. "One tiny step at a time."


	9. The Grandparents' Judgement

**AN: Once again, lots of thanks and virtual cupcakes for all of you for all the kind reviews you left me! I'm honestly not sure what makes you all so enthusiastic about this story - frankly, I feel like it's just another one of my Fiyeraba-meet-fall-in-love-have-some-drama-and-live-happily-ever-after-fics, but of course I'm very glad you all like it.**

 **Elphaba'sGirl: No matter what the reason, it's good to have you back! :)**

 **This chapter is for NellytheActress. It's a day early, but happy birthday to you! I hope you have a nice day tomorrow!**

* * *

 **9\. The Grandparents' Judgement**

At Elphaba's insistence, Fiyero didn't come to see her every night anymore. She claimed it made Morrible suspicious and that some of her regular clients had been slightly annoyed to find her unavailable all the time, so she asked him to limit his visits at night to a couple of times a week.

He wasn't happy with that, of course. "But I want to see you," he complained. "More than just a few times a week, I mean."

"We can still spend time together during the day, if you want to," she offered. "But really, Yero, you can't come to Morrible's every evening and claim me for the entire night, even if you do pay for it. There are other customers, too."

"That's what I'm trying to shield you from," he said unhappily. "I don't want you to have to do that kind of work, Fae."

She smiled a dimpled smile at him. "You're sweet," she said. "But I've been doing this for a long time already, you know. I can handle myself."

"It's not just that." He grimaced, running a hand through his hair. "I just… I hate the thought of other men…" He shuddered. "I told you I'm in love with you, Fae, and the idea of other men being with you quite literally makes me sick to my stomach," he blurted out.

She huffed a wry laugh. "The idea of those men being with me always still makes _me_ sick to my stomach, too," she informed him, "but it's what I have to do to stay alive and so I will do it. If I can deal with it, I think you can, too, Yero. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that you care, but I can't change it and I'm sorry to say this, but you don't have any claim to me."

"I'll pay," he offered instantly. "I'll buy your freedom. Galinda's, too, if you don't want to leave her. I have plenty of money –"

She held up a hand, silencing him. "You can't."

He scowled at her. "Is this some stupid pride thing?" he demanded sullenly.

"My pride," she snapped, "is one of the only things I have left."

He acknowledged that, albeit reluctantly, but she added, "And besides, that's not it. It's that Morrible wouldn't allow it. She keeps us all until we're twenty-five, no exceptions, to get the most money out of us. If you were to try to buy me free, she'd refuse and probably find some way to use your attachment to me against both of us – or even against your family. Leverage against the royal family of the Vinkus could always come in handy for her."

He tried to find a way around that logic, but wasn't able to find one and so he limited his visits to _The Fish's Lair_ to three nights a week at most. On the other days, he usuallymet her somewhere in town and they'd take walks, read together in the library, or go out to eat something – always at Fiyero's suggestion, since Elphaba would never spend her hard-earned money on food, but he insisted on spoiling her in every way she'd let him. He'd even gotten her a library card so that she didn't have to read at the library all the time, but could take books back to her room with her instead.

They'd kissed lightly a few more times, but nothing more than that had happened. Fiyero didn't want to pressure her; he instinctively sensed that she needed him to give her time to process everything that was going on between them and to get used to it, so he tried to give her that time. They mostly stuck to light conversations and activities during their time together.

"I have a proposition," he said one time when they were in her room together. He lightly ran his fingers down her bare arm, marvelling at how soft her skin was. "Don't say no right away."

She gave him a wary look and he took a breath.

"I want to introduce you to my grandparents," he said.

She sighed wearily. "Really? Why?" she asked him. "They won't be pleased to meet me. 'Hi, Grandpa,'" she imitated him in a low voice. "'This is the green prostitute I constantly insist I'm in love with. Can she stay for dinner?' I'm sure they'll be thrilled."

He had to grin at her imitation of him, but he didn't like what she was implying. "Fae, they already know about you," he pointed out to her. "They'll love you. Really. They're not so shallow that they would care about your skin colour or your profession."

She snorted. "'Profession'. That almost makes it sound fancy. Fiyero, I _sleep_ with _men_ for _money_ ," she stressed. "I'm about as low on the social ladder as you can get."

He scowled at her, drawing her a little closer and absently combing his fingers through her hair. "That's not true and even if it were, they still don't care. Please come with me," he beseeched her. "I'd love for you to meet them."

"I don't know, Fiyero," she said hesitantly. He gave her his best puppy-eyed pout and she heaved a deep sigh, but relented. "Fine," she said grudgingly. "I can never deny you anything when you use that face on me. It's annoying."

He grinned at her and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I must say I quite like it."

* * *

Fiyero was oddly nervous as he and Elphaba walked down the road to his grandparents' farm the following day. She was dressed in her best clothes, which honestly didn't say a lot other than that she was wearing the only dress she had that didn't look completely faded and worn. She had brushed her ebony curls until they shone and Fiyero thought she looked beautiful, despite the old dress and despite the fact that her own nerves caused her to look pale and tense.

"Relax," he told her, even though he wasn't relaxed himself. He took her hand and squeezed it gently. "They're good people."

"I know," she muttered. "But still."

When they approached the small farmhouse, Kevon and Calinne were already at the door. Elphaba swallowed and Fiyero squeezed her hand again.

"You'll be fine," he assured her, but she wasn't so sure of that.

Calinne smiled at her grandson as she came forward. "We saw you coming through the window," she explained as she quickly took Elphaba in and then held out her hands. The green girl took them a little hesitantly and Calinne's smile widened. "Welcome, Elphaba," she said. "My name is Calinne Tiggular. I'm Fiyero's grandmother."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Elphaba nervously. Fiyero's grandmother was a tall and elegant woman with greying brown hair and a kind smile. Elphaba knew Calinne wasn't royalty, but she thought the woman would have fit into such a life perfectly nonetheless, at least where her looks were concerned. "I'm Elphaba Thropp, Fiyero's..." She faltered, unsure of how to finish that sentence, and Calinne laughed.

"No-one knows exactly what you are to Fiyero," she told the girl, not unkindly. "Not even Fiyero himself – or maybe he's just scared to admit it. Important, that's what you are to him. Let's just stick with 'friend', for lack of a better term."

Elphaba exhaled slowly and nodded.

"Kevon Tiggular," the man then introduced himself to Elphaba. He was a little taller than his wife; about the same height as Fiyero, actually. His eyes were the same shade of blue as Fiyero's own eyes, his hair was almost entirely grey, and he had a short beard. He looked a little intimidating, but he shook Elphaba's hand warmly. "We have heard so much about you. Too much, actually," he added with a look in Fiyero's direction. "Sometimes we wished he'd just shut up about you."

"Kevon," Calinne chided him. Fiyero cleared his throat awkwardly and Elphaba felt like her cheeks were on fire.

"Come in," Calinne said, linking her arm with Fiyero's and motioning for Elphaba to follow. "I've made tea and there's lunch, too, in case you're hungry. Are you?"

"Starving," Fiyero said immediately.

Elphaba snorted before she could help herself. "You're always starving."

"It's a common trait among the males of the Tiggular family," Calinne informed the younger girl with a pointed look at Kevon, whose face had brightened considerably at the mention of lunch as well.

Elphaba chuckled and followed the others into the house, looking around. It wasn't very large, but it was cosy and tastefully decorated. Calinne led them into the kitchen, which was light and spacious. The table was already set and she moved to the counter to fetch the dishes she'd already prepared for lunch.

"That looks wonderful," said Elphaba as she took in the food. In fact, it looked more like the food Fiyero had bought her at the restaurants in Reins a few times than it did like the things Morrible gave her girls every day. It looked delicious and she wondered if other people always ate like this.

Calinne waved her away, however. "It's nothing special, dear."

Elphaba bit her lip. If this was nothing special, then what was supposed to pass for 'special' for these people?

Fiyero saw her uncomfortable look and he caught her gaze, giving her a reassuring smile. She hesitantly smiled back.

When Kevon asked her to tell them a little about herself, she started biting her lip again, unsure of what she could say; but Fiyero said, "It's fine, Fae. You can be honest with them. They won't judge."

She gave him a look, which he returned, both waiting for the other to back down. She was the one who eventually relented and she had to admire his stubbornness. She hadn't thought anyone could quite be as stubborn as she was, but he'd been proving her wrong for weeks now.

She gave Fiyero's grandparents the short version of her story – how her father had hated her because of her skin, then blamed her for her sister's disability and mother's death and taken her away. She explained that she'd grown up in an orphanage here in the Vinkus and that she'd never seen her family again; that she'd been kicked out at age sixteen, like all the other kids were, and that she'd roamed the streets for a while before Madame Morrible took her in and introduced her to a different way to make money.

She didn't meet Kevon or Calinne's eyes as she talked, instead keeping her gaze trained on the table. When she finished, she waited, convinced that there would be tight smiles and a polite request to leave now, probably combined with an order to stop contaminating Fiyero's life by being in it. Or worse – maybe they'd pity her. She hated being pitied. She wasn't a charity project and she wasn't some stray kitten whom everyone was supposed to feel sorry for.

Calinne merely sighed, however. "Oh, Elphaba. It sounds like you've been through a lot," she said. "I can see why Fiyero took an interest in you, though."

The green girl blinked, finally looking up. "You can?" Oz knew _she_ couldn't see it, even after a few months.

Kevon nodded earnestly. "She reminds me," he said, raising his gaze to meet Fiyero's, "of your mother."

Calinne stared at her husband for a few moments, baffled. Then she burst out laughing. "She does, doesn't she?" she asked gleefully. "Sweet Oz, first Hamold and now Fiyero." She laughed again and leaned over to pat Elphaba's knee. "I think you're a keeper, dear," she declared. "If your influence on Fiyero is going to be half as good as Lori's is on Hamold, then your involvement with him is going to save the Vinkus from the brink of disaster and we won't let you go ever again."

"You're so funny, Grandma," Fiyero said sarcastically.

Elphaba, for her part, felt a little dazed and just looked from Kevon to Calinne and back again. "But... but what about my skin?" she asked uncertainly. "Or what I... well, what I do? Do you really approve of Fiyero's friendship with me?"

"Of course," said Kevon, shaking his head. "As long as Yero is happy, Elphaba – _really_ happy, not the fake kind of happy he was before – then we're happy, too."

"We personally don't care about your background, your looks, or your profession, Elphaba," Calinne said gently. "If you two were to get more serious, however, then those things might be worth worrying about – mainly because Fiyero is, and always will be, a prince and that means he is out in the public eye a lot. Which means you would be, too, by association."

"Wait," said Elphaba, holding up two hands. "More serious? What do you mean? It's not like we're ever going to get married or anything." She gave a short laugh. No-one said anything, however, and her laugh died in her throat. She added, "Right?" with a pointed look at Fiyero.

He cleared his throat. "Well, not in the near future," he muttered and she scowled at him.

"Fiyero," she said. "You don't know what you're talking about. We've only known one another for a few months. You're going to be sick of me within a few more weeks – months, if I'm lucky – and then that will be it."

"What?" he protested. "No!"

She raised an eyebrow at him.

Kevon coughed a little awkwardly. "It seems to me like you two have a few more things to work out," he said.

Fiyero glared at Elphaba. "We'll save that conversation for some other time," he told her pointedly. "But we _will_ have it."

"Fine," she retorted. "There's not that much to say." Fiyero opened his mouth again to counter that, but she cut him off. "Some other time, Yero."

He huffed, leaning back and crossing his arms, but he didn't say anything else. He'd convince her. Somehow, someday, he'd make her see exactly just how serious he was about her.

* * *

 **Next chapter has a cliffy. Because it's been too long since I did one of those.**


	10. The Brothel's Obscurity

**10\. The Brothel's Obscurity**

Elphaba had to admit that she liked Fiyero's grandparents. They were kind yet honest; they didn't beat around the bush or cover up their thoughts in any way. Fiyero complained about that, but Elphaba thought it was refreshing and much like herself. She'd always thought that things would be much easier if everyone would just say what they were thinking.

She walked back from their farm on her own, having laughed at Fiyero when he'd tried to walk her back. "It's a five-minute walk," she'd pointed out to him, "and once you'd get there, you'd have to leave again right away. Just stay here. I can get back on my own."

He'd protested, but she hadn't budged and she'd waved sweetly at him before starting down the road. The sun was shining and she inhaled deeply. It was a nice spring day. She remembered often watching other children outside in the sunshine on days like this one, going on walks with their parents, and she remembered wishing she was one of them. She sighed, wistful, but she'd accepted her fate long ago. She wasn't born for the rose and pearl. No loving family for her, no luxury, no easy life, and no happy ending.

That was also how she knew that whatever this was she had with Fiyero would never last. She was interesting to him now; a challenge, something new. She did believe that her story had impacted him, but she also believed that that was one of the reasons for his interest in her. Soon, as she had predicted that afternoon, he'd grow tired of her and move on and she'd probably never see him again. That was fine. It always went like that. She was grateful to have had anyone care about her at all – Oz knew there had never been many people in her life who had.

Fiyero's grandparents had spent the afternoon asking her questions about herself, her life, her friends, and her hobbies, and she'd enquired after Fiyero's life in return. Kevon had been happy to share his grandson's most embarrassing moments with the green girl and Calinne had fondly recalled the drawings little Fiyero had sent her, the way he'd played with the animals whenever he'd come to visit the farm with his parents, and the rebellious teenager he had been. Elphaba liked hearing about Fiyero's life before she had met him, even though the prince himself had constantly (and quite dramatically) grunted, moaned, and buried his face in his arms as his grandparents talked.

The fact that he had introduced her to his grandparents seemed to suggest that he was serious about their relationship – or at the very least about their friendship – but Elphaba still had a hard time grasping that concept. She wasn't used to other people caring about her without some ulterior motive. Galinda and Lulu were practically the only exceptions to that rule. She just couldn't fathom why Fiyero would take an interest in her, of all people. With his background, he could have any girl he wanted – a rich duke's daughter, a beautiful society girl... why would he want _her_? It didn't make any sense and she hated things that didn't make sense because she couldn't predict them.

Galinda was giddy over the fact that Elphaba had met his grandparents, insisting it was 'a big step in their relationship' and thus confirming Elphaba's own suspicions; but the green girl still didn't believe that Fiyero had had that intention when he invited her.

"What relationship?" she asked with a snort. "It doesn't mean anything." It couldn't.

Galinda just smirked knowingly. "Keep telling yourself that, Elphie."

"It _doesn't_ ," Elphaba insisted and her blonde friend giggled.

"Oh, Elphie," she said, shaking her head. "He's a guy. You're a girl. He claims you've changed him; I _know_ he's changed you. You guys kiss and you spend a lot of time together – far more than regular friends would. Now he introduced you to his family. How can you not see that what you two have is a relationship?"

The idea unnerved Elphaba and she brushed Galinda off, refusing to talk about the subject any longer. She needed to think about this first and sort out her thoughts for herself.

Fiyero, meanwhile, felt torn and uncertain about what to do. He was submitted to lots of questions from his grandparents and once they found out that his intentions towards Elphaba were, indeed, serious, they were delighted despite their worries. The prince continued to visit Elphaba as often as she would let him get away with and invited her over a few times, too, for tea or dinner with his grandparents, who seemed to like her more with each visit. Sometimes Galinda or Lulu would join the Elphaba and Fiyero on a walk through town and he got to know them better as well, wanting to learn more about the people important to Elphaba now that she had met some of the people who were important to him. He loved spending time with her in any way and tried to do so as much as he could, knowing he would have to return home at some point and not yet knowing what would happen to their relationship then.

He hadn't received a reply from his parents yet. Fiyero knew it always took a while for mail to travel from this part of the Vinkus to his parents at Adurin Iir, but he was still surprised. After everything he'd written to them – the explanations, the apologies, and the assurances that he really was changing now – he'd have expected a quick reply. When he voiced those thoughts to his grandparents, they told him to be patient.

"There'll be a reply," Calinne assured her grandson. "I have no doubt about that."

Kevon grinned at the prince. "Maybe it's just taking them a long time to process all your news and come up with something to say in reply."

"Ha, ha," said Fiyero, rolling his eyes. "Very funny, Grandpa."

On his way back to his grandparents' farm one day after spending the afternoon with Elphaba, he was actually contemplating sending another letter to Adurin Iir, if only to ask his parents if they had even received his first letter. As he neared the farm and saw the carriage in the driveway, however, he slowed, staring at it for a while. The royal carriage. His parents' carriage.

Taking a deep breath, he closed the rest of the distance between himself and the front door and slipped inside, already bracing himself for what he would find. He'd expected a letter – a surprised, perhaps slightly suspicious, but also hopeful letter. He hadn't expected his parents to actually show up.

When he opened the door to the living room, however, it was to find his grandmother sitting there, a cup of tea raised to her lips; and in the chair across from her was his mother, Queen Elora. She caught sight of him and she lowered her teacup and saucer to the coffee table, a smile gracing her lips as she rose to her feet and moved in for a hug.

"Hello, Fiyero," she said, embracing him. Stunned, he hugged her back and when she pulled away, he was unnerved to find tears standing in her eyes. She smiled a little sheepishly as she wiped them away. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," she said, laughing a little. She hugged him again. "It's just that your father and I have waited so long for this."

His shoulders slumped. "You didn't have to come all the way here," he complained. "I suppose Grandma already filled you in on all the details?"

Lori grinned at him. "Of course, but I still want to hear it all from you."

He looked around apprehensively. "Please tell me Dad isn't here."

"He's not," his mother said as she sat back down and took her teacup again. "I left him in charge. There were some military matters that needed attending to and he's always been better with such things than I am."

Fiyero sat down as well, rubbing his eyes. "I suppose now we talk, then?" he asked wearily. "I must say, I'm already sick and tired of talking. Even the mere talking in itself is almost enough for me to start re-considering this whole thinking thing."

Lori ignored most of that. "Yes," she said simply. "Now we talk. And once we're done talking," she continued, "I think it's time we start discussing the future of your relationship with Miss Elphaba, followed by a way to free her and a time for the two of you to return to Adurin Iir together."

* * *

The next night, Fiyero arrived at _The Fish's Lair_ (he, too, had taken to calling it that, rather than its actual name) to find the door locked and everything closed off.

He frowned. In all the time he'd been in Reins, he hadn't seen the brothel closed even once. He knocked on the door, but no-one answered. There also came no reply when he called up to the windows, which were all closed as well.

Bewildered, he went to one of the pubs instead, only to find that the tightly shut brothel was the main topic of conversation. Everyone was wondering what had happened.

" _The Fish's Lair_ has never been closed," a man said. "Not that I can remember, anyway, and I've lived here for three years."

"I can recall one time," another man declared. "About four or five years ago, I think. One of the girls had died then."

"I remember a long time ago," an older man chimed in, "when there was an outbreak of scarlet fever. Morrible kept all the girls confined to the house for a week or so."

None of these stories did anything to reassure Fiyero. "There's no disease outbreak here now, though, is there?" he asked. He was clutching a glass of beer, but hadn't so much as taken a sip from it. "So what is going on?"

"Maybe there's a different kind of infectious disease among the girls and Morrible doesn't want it to spread into town," someone speculated. "Or maybe something happened to one of those girls."

"It must have been something bad, then – like a death, as you said before," the older man said to the man next to him. "Otherwise she wouldn't close her doors. Oz knows she doesn't care if one of those girls is sick unless it's threatening for her business."

"I suppose we'll find out," the barkeeper cut the conversation short and shoved some more beer across the bar in the direction of the men. The conversation soon moved on after that, but Fiyero found himself unable to let it go.

On his way back from the bar, he wandered past the brothel again and tried to peer inside, but there wasn't so much as a crack anywhere that allowed him to see into the building. He knocked and called again, too, but there was still no reply. Eventually, he walked back to his grandparents' farm, worried and with a thousand questions running through his mind.

"It's never been closed before," he told his grandparents as he paced up and down the living room. "What if something happened?" He was worried sick about Elphaba and the stories about death and disease from the men in the pub didn't exactly help ease his worries. Was she ill? Or worse? Had something happened to her or to one of the other girls? How would he ever find out?

"Just be patient," Calinne advised him. "Morrible will open her doors again sooner or later. I'm sure Elphaba is fine, dear. The place could be closed for a lot of reasons."

Despite her and Kevon's reassurances, Fiyero hardly slept that night and he ventured back into town the next day in search of Elphaba. The brothel was still closed – although that wasn't so strange now, it being daytime on a week day – and he meandered over to the library, half hoping to find Elphaba there. She was nowhere to be found, though, and the librarian said he hadn't seen her all day so far, either. The prince then aimlessly walked around for a while until he got the idea to find the hidden park she'd taken him to a few times. It was the only other place he could think of where she might be – if she was out at all. Perhaps she was staying inside, in which case he probably wouldn't get to see her at all.

She wasn't in the park and he went back to the tavern he'd been the night before. It was mostly empty now and he asked the bartender for a beer, inquiring after the brothel again.

"I did hear something this morning, actually," the bartender said as he shoved Fiyero's beer over to him. "Some men who came in early for a few drinks – they could use them, too; they'd been busy all night searching for one of Morrible's girls who had gone missing."

"Missing?" Fiyero asked, his heart pounding in his chest. "What happened? Did they find her?"

The bartender nodded. "It's not entirely clear what happened yet – although maybe Madame Morrible herself and the other girls know – but they found her early in the morning in the river. She was dead."

Fiyero could have sworn his heart stopped for a moment, his beer completely forgotten. He leaned forward, hardly able to breathe, his throat constricted and his chest tight. "Which one?" he asked urgently. "Which girl was it? Was it Emerald?" Oz, he couldn't even allow himself to think of that possibility. Even if it wasn't Elphaba herself, though, he hoped to Oz it wasn't Lulu or Galinda. She wasn't extremely close to any other girls, but he knew that even if the girl who died was someone she hadn't had much to do with, it would still have a major impact on her.

He'd be there for her, if she needed him. Right now he just needed to know that it wasn't her body they'd retrieved from the river that morning. " _Was it Emerald_?!" he repeated, almost shouting.

The bartender frowned at him, unimpressed but slightly annoyed with the prince's outburst. "I don't know, mate," he said. "I have no idea which girl it was. You're going to have to ask Morrible, or one of the men who found the girl. They all went home to get some sleep now, but you might catch them again here this afternoon, or perhaps tonight."

Fiyero abruptly rose and left the tavern, leaving his beer on the bar untouched. He couldn't wait that long. He had to go back to the brothel to try and figure out what exactly happened.

* * *

 **Stop! Cliffy time! *Hammer dance***


	11. The Freedom's Price

**No, guys, don't worry. I already killed Elphaba in my previous story. Most of you have some theories; you'll find out soon enough if you were right!**

* * *

 **11\. The Freedom's Price**

Fiyero went to _The Fish's Lair_ a final time, not knowing what else to do. When the door still didn't open upon his knocks, he counted the windows, found Elphaba's, and then started tossing pebbles against the glass, hoping to attract her attention.

He was just about to throw another pebble when the window opened and a blonde head peeked out. When she saw him, her blue eyes widened. "Fiyero?"

"Galinda," he said, relief coursing through him, only to instantly be replaced with worry again. Why would Galinda be in Elphaba's room? "Where is Elphaba? Is she all right?"

"She's –" Galinda glanced behind her and sighed. "She's fine," she told him. "She's just... busy right now."

"Busy with what?" he demanded. "I heard that one of Morrible's girls died – is that true? Who?"

Galinda hesitated. Someone said something from behind her and she said over her shoulder, "It's Fiyero."

Her head disappeared and Elphaba appeared at the window instead, looking tired and drawn, with dark circles under her eyes. Her face was pale and her curls were gathered together in a messy bun. "Fiyero?"

"Fae." He finally let out the breath he hadn't even realised he'd been holding, relaxing a little. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," she said, although it didn't sound convincing. "Listen, I'll... I'll talk to you later, okay? Galinda," she said sharply, turning away from the window. "Not so much. We do want her to wake up again in the morning, you know."

Galinda said something from inside that Fiyero couldn't understand and he frowned. "Fae... did one of the girls really die? Someone said that. Are you okay?"

She quickly glanced back at him over her shoulder. "It was Delani," she said, biting her lip.

Fiyero flinched. She'd told him all about the other girls by then and he knew Delani had been a sort of friend to Elphaba, or at least someone who had been nice to her. He could only imagine how hard this must have hit her and her friends.

"I'm fine," she continued, "but I can't talk to you right now – we have to take care of Lulu. Tomorrow morning," she promised him. "Ten o'clock, at the park. We'll talk then, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

But she had already disappeared back inside and closed the window.

* * *

When he saw her sitting in the park the following day, she looked even wearier than the day before, but she managed a small smile when she noticed him and she rose to her feet. "Fiyero," she sighed and much to his surprise, she wrapped her arms around him. She had almost never initiated any form of physical contact before and so he was baffled for a moment, but he understood that she needed comfort right now and so he quickly put his arms around her in return. She stayed like that for a while, her cheek pressed against his chest. Then she pulled away, biting her lip.

"Let's walk," she said. "I need some air to clear my head."

They crossed the park, but when they neared the small bridge over the river, Elphaba slowed. Fiyero glanced at her in concern, noticing how tight her jaw was, how tense her posture, and how large her eyes, and he asked, "Fae?"

She took a deep breath. "Delani killed herself."

He was shocked. "What?"

The green girl huddled in her thin cardigan, shivering, but he suspected it wasn't because she was cold this time. She took a few steps until she was standing on the bridge and looked down into the water. "The night before we were closed, Delani went out and never returned," she said quietly. "After she was gone for a night and a day, even Morrible got worried – or maybe suspicious was more like it. She closed the brothel and some of the men in the village helped us look for Delani. They found her early this morning. She drowned herself in the river."

There were suddenly tears in Elphaba's eyes and without thinking, Fiyero drew her into his arms, holding her to his chest as he rested his chin on the top of her head. "I'm so sorry, Fae," he whispered.

She closed her eyes for a moment. "Thank you," she whispered back, burying her face in his shirt. She was shaking a little, but she didn't let her tears fall. "It just... it came as a shock. To all of us." She pulled away from him and laid her hands on the wooden railing separating them from the river. He kept his arm around her shoulders protectively, standing beside her.

"We all saw that she was unhappy," she continued, "but we didn't think it was this bad. Lulu... she's completely devastated. Glin and I have been trying to help her ever since it happened, but she's so upset Morrible even gave us potions to sedate her. She was completely freaking out. She's better now, I think, but still." She took a deep breath and slowly let it out again. "I mean… we can all understand why Delani did it, but I guess we're feeling like we failed to look after her. Especially Lulu. She thinks she might have prevented this, if only she'd known, but how could she have known? Or any of us, for that matter? There were hardly any warning signals. We're all sad and withdrawn every now and then – it's as much part of this life as the rest of it is, I think."

Fiyero looked down at the water and suppressed a shudder. "Have you ever considered...?" he asked hesitantly, a little afraid to ask.

Clearly, however, Elphaba was anything but afraid to answer. "Plenty of times," she admitted candidly, which scared him a little. "Me and every other girl in that house, I think." She looked up at him and, seeing the fear in his eyes, softened. "Never seriously, though," she hastened to reassure him. "I think... I think I felt like I always still had enough to live for. If only Galinda, or Lulu, or my dreams of the future..." She trailed off and stared across the river, past the farmlands in the distance, to the horizon. He waited for her to speak again, not daring to interrupt. He only gently covered her hand with his in a silent gesture of support.

She seemed lost in thought as she said, "I always knew that one day, I would find my way out of that place; and I would leave it and never come back. I think that is what kept me hanging on for nearly three years, and my whole life before that as well. The hope that things would get better. The possibility of a future that was brighter than the life I was living. That's the only thing keeping us all going." She shook her head. "I guess Delani just felt like that kind of future wasn't really possible for her anymore," she said sadly. "She resorted to substances a long time ago and she's worked for Morrible for years, but she still had a long way to go and she hadn't even managed to save that much money – mainly because she spent most of what she earned on potions. She had a very difficult time coping with what we do and accepting the life she led."

Fiyero nodded. He could understand that.

Elphaba was quiet for a while and eventually, Fiyero said hesitantly, "Fae?"

She turned large, questioning eyes on him and he took her cold hands in his own, squeezing them gently and rubbing some warmth into her fingers as he spoke. "Promise me that you won't ever..." He couldn't finish his sentence, but he didn't have to.

She shook her head. "I would never, Fiyero," she said gently. "Not while I still have something left to live for. I won't say I'm happy, really, but I'm not doing as badly as Delani was. Not by far."

"Promise me," he insisted and she conceded, if only because she knew it would make him feel better.

"I promise."

He nodded and pulled her to him, pressing his lips against hers in a kiss that was firmer, less soft and more eager, than any of the others had been. She didn't hesitate, though – she kissed him back right away and slid her arms around his waist as he tangled his own fingers in her hair. When they finally broke apart for air, he cupped her face and gently stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"I'll save you," he promised her, his voice thick with pent-up emotion. "One way or another, whether you like it or not, I'm going to get you out of there – or at the very least help you do so – and I won't leave you until you're safe and sound and as far away from that fish and this kind of life as you can get. Okay?"

She had to smile a little at that despite herself. "Okay," she agreed softly and then she allowed him to kiss her again.

* * *

When Fiyero came to the brothel the next night, he smiled charmingly at Madame Morrible. "Hello, Madame. It's good to see that you are open again," he said pleasantly. He could see that it was busy in the common room: men were sitting around, talking, drinking, and playing cards, and he recognised Pfannee, Shenshen, and two of the younger girls – Nalenne and Falin, if he was correct… or was that Olia? – sitting with them in short dresses, giggling as the men groped them. He knew most of the girls by name now, having seen them in the common room or with Elphaba a couple of times.

He looked at Morrible again. "I hope nothing bad has happened that forced you to close," he said, carefully watching her face for any kind of reaction, but she kept her features annoyingly neutral.

"Not to worry, Your Highness," she said, smiling that smile at him that looked more like a smirk. "There was some trouble, but it has all been resolved now. I'm afraid Jade and Sapphire are indisposed at the moment, though… but you didn't come for them, anyway, did you?"

He gave her a sheepish look. "Not exactly." Inside, he was fuming. 'Indisposed'? Delani was dead and Lulu was probably still frantic. He wouldn't call that 'indisposed'. He didn't want to antagonise Morrible, though, so instead he said, "I'm here for Emerald. All night, please."

"I could have guessed that." Morrible studied him. "You really did take quite the liking to her, didn't you? With your reputation, I'd have thought you'd gotten tired of her by now."

Fiyero shrugged, acting casual. "Well, she's quite something."

"Yes." Morrible kept watching him, though, and it made him uncomfortable. Was she suspecting something? He wondered what would happen if she found out about his relationship with Elphaba. Would she even care? Would she try to discourage it or even punish Elphaba for it? What did it matter to her, anyway, as long as he kept paying for Elphaba's company?

"From eight to three, that will be two gold pieces, then," said Morrible and Fiyero handed her three, winking at her.

"To thank you for your discretion and for indulging me," he explained. "I realise I've been imposing on you a lot lately. Sometimes I get like a little boy with a new toy, playing with it for hours on end all the time and then eventually growing bored of it, so I'd like to thank you for your patience, Madame."

She looked pleased. "Why, thank you, Your Highness," she said, batting her eyelashes at him (which was a horrible sight, really). "You can count on my continuing patience and discretion, I can assure you that; and once you do grow tired of Emerald, I have several more girls I could recommend to you to keep things interesting."

"I cannot wait," he said with a small bow. She gestured for him to move on and he walked past the bar and through the doorway, up the stairs. He could find his way to Elphaba's room blindly by now if he had to.

When he opened the door, she came sashaying towards him with swivelling hips and fluttering eyelashes, but she quickly dropped the sultry act when she saw it was him. "Yero! I wasn't expecting you," she said, flushing a little.

He grinned at her, eyeing her suggestively. "I could tell," he teased. "Do continue what you were doing."

She poked out her tongue at him, her cheeks an interesting shade of purple, and he chuckled before sobering again. "Morrible is growing a little suspicious," he said. "I got her off my back for now, but she might find out what's really going on at some point."

Elphaba sighed. "We'll deal with that later," she said tiredly. "It was bound to happen sooner or later, anyway. I don't have the energy to think about it right now."

He nodded, understanding. "How is Lulu?" he asked.

Her face fell. She ran her fingers through her hair in mild frustration. "Not too great," she said. "She's holding up, but she's having a hard time coping with Delani's death. They were even closer than she and I were and she already misses her a lot... she's also scared, mostly that things will get so bleak and hopeless for her that she'll be tempted to make the same decision someday. I told her that wouldn't happen, but she's still afraid."

"I can imagine," said Fiyero, feeling bad for the poor girl.

Elphaba glanced up at him through her curtain of black hair. "Delani gave her everything she'd saved," she said quietly. "All of it. Lulu found it under her pillow – Delani must have put it there, probably because they were such close friends and she didn't want her death to be entirely for nothing. I'm not sure how she got her savings away from Madame Morrible, but somehow she managed and she gave it all to her best friend."

Fiyero sucked in his breath. "Really?"

She nodded. "It's not _that_ much," she said. "Combined with Lulu's own savings, though, it's enough for Lulu to be able to take care of herself for quite a while. She's going to try to buy herself free, if Morrible allows her to. She doesn't want to end up like Delani and now she finally has the chance to escape this life. I just really hope Morrible will let her go."

"That's amazing," said Fiyero, not entirely sure of what he could say. He was genuinely happy for Lulu and he knew Elphaba was, too; but he also recognised the wistful look in her eyes. "You'll get there, too, Fae. You'll be free one day."

She smiled half-heartedly at him. "I hope so."

"And you know my offer still stands. I'll set my parents on Morrible if I have to if it meant I could free you somehow."

She exhaled slowly through her nose. "Thanks, but... no. I can't take the risk, Yero. If something goes wrong, she'd _kill_ me – probably not literally, but the consequences still wouldn't be pretty and she might go after Lulu or Galinda in an attempt to get to me. Not to mention the fact that she'd probably go after you as well in some way... I can't. Not yet, anyway."

"I understand. And maybe you're right and it would end badly." He took her hand. "I'm just saying that if you change your mind... I'm ready to take the chance if you are."

Her smile grew more genuine and she shook her head. "No," she said softly. "But thank you."

She would get out. She'd find a way. She just didn't want him to risk himself in the process. He'd done enough for her already and this was her burden to bear.


	12. The Fish's Plans

**Thanks again for all your reviews! They are still very much appreciated. :)**

* * *

 **12\. The Fish's Plans**

Time passed quickly the days after that. Elphaba did what she had to do and in between, she checked up on Lulu, who was still a little despondent after Delani's death. Most of the girls assembled in the park one afternoon to have a small ceremony for their friend, digging up memories and lighting some candles they had sneaked away. It made it feel more like a proper good-bye to them all and Elphaba could tell it made it a little easier for Lulu to cope with everything, too.

She and Fiyero went for a walk one afternoon and he walked her back to the brothel afterwards, stopping just outside the door.

"Elphaba," he said as she made to walk away, taking her hands to keep her with him. "Wait."

She gave him a quizzical look, mainly at his use of her full name instead of his nickname for her. "What's wrong?"

He hesitated, then decided to bite the bullet. "Elphaba, I just want you to know that I was serious that day at my grandparents' house," he said. "I'm not saying I want to marry you, but I _am_ saying that it's not unlikely that that will change in the future. I don't know how you feel about me. I've said more about my feelings to you than I've said to anyone over the past years and I understand why you're hesitant to say anything in return, but if this is just a game to you or a temporary thing, if there's not a chance in the world that you'll ever want a life with me... I'd rather have you tell me now, before I get in even deeper."

She could only stare at him, her fingers frozen in his, her entire body still. She took a moment to organise her thoughts and compose herself. "Fiyero..." she began, but she honestly had no idea what to say. "I... I don't know. I don't... I mean, I don't think..." She trailed off. She didn't even know if he was sincere or not. He sounded sincere. She wanted to trust him, but she had learned early on in her life that trusting people was generally not a good idea for someone like her because it almost always ended in disappointment.

"Wow." Fiyero pulled his hands away from hers and ran them both through his hair, clutching the back of his head. "Okay. I, um... I've never had my heart broken before," he confessed, letting out a nervous, tight laugh. "I suppose it had to happen at some point, and maybe it's payback for all those times I broke other people's hearts..."

"Yero," she cut him off, seeing that he was genuinely upset despite his attempts to cover it up. It confused her, but it also convinced her – a little, at least. "I'm not breaking your heart. I just... I don't know if I can see us getting married," she said, averting her gaze. "I don't know if we could ever have something long-term, because I still think you'll get sick of the excitement of me at some point and move on, not to mention the whole royalty thing..."

"I know," he said. "I'm still working on that. One tiny step at a time, remember?"

She studied him closely – the look in his eyes, the way he tucked his hands deep into his pockets, his nervous shifting and fidgeting. She saw nothing that indicated he didn't mean what he was saying and she said quietly, "I think this was another one of those small steps."

He looked up at that and smiled, a hint of relief shining through. "So... regardless of how you think _I_ feel... how do _you_ feel?" he dared to ask.

She sighed and bit her lip as she considered her answer, forcing herself to be completely honest with him. She owed him that much. "It's not a game to me," she said slowly. She lowered her gaze. "I... I do like you. I'm not sure about love, because truthfully, I have no idea what that would even feel like, but I care about you. I like what we have."

The relief fully broke through on his face now and he grinned at her. "That's all I need to know for now," he assured her, taking her hand again and tugging her closer. He gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, his thumb brushing against her cheek as he did so. "We'll just keep this up for a while, then. I'm not going anywhere and you refuse to let me take _you_ anywhere, so we have time. No matter how long it takes for me to convince you, Fae, I promise you that I will succeed in the end."

She snorted. "Am I your new project now?"

"In a way," he said, grinning impishly at her. "You're the most interesting project I've ever worked on, though. The smartest, too, and the prettiest, and the one I'm most motivated to see through to the end." He kissed her softly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," she whispered, closing her eyes as he kissed her again, longer this time. He deepened the kiss and she made a soft noise against his lips as she pressed herself closer against him.

He was grinning like an idiot when he pulled away and when he saw the look on her face, her lips a little swollen, he couldn't help but kiss her again. "Tomorrow," he said huskily as he forced himself to pull away from her, knowing she had to go have dinner and then get to work.

She smirked at him and gave him a little wave as she watched him leave. Then she slipped through the door and into the brothel, touching two fingers to her lips as she leaned against the door for a moment.

"Well, well," Madame Morrible suddenly drawled from behind the green girl, making her jump. "It looks like our little Emerald has found herself a prince."

"I – I don't..." Elphaba stammered, taken by surprise. She cursed herself for being so obvious. "I mean, he isn't –"

"Don't deny it, dearie. I've observed the two of you for a while now and the other girls have told me things, too," Morrible said ominously. "Some of them even think he might try to get you out of here."

Elphaba opened her mouth to deny that, but Morrible cut her off by holding up one hand. "I want him gone."

The girl stared at her. "What?"

"The prince," said Morrible. "I want him gone from this brothel – preferably from this town entirely. He was a good client, but I won't have him stealing my girls away from me; and if he really is in love with you, or something ridiculous like that, he'll try to buy you free or even get his parents involved to try and oppose me and I won't have that. You're one of my best, dearie, like it or not, and I'm not letting you go for quite a while yet." She folded her arms in front of her chest. "Get rid of the prince somehow. Push him away. Tell him you don't love him anymore – I don't care how you do it, but _do it_."

Elphaba lifted her chin, crossing her arms as well. "No."

"Excuse me?" Morrible brought her face closer to the green girl's. "Let me make this clear, little Emerald," she said in a dangerously low voice. "You're mine. You do as I say, when I say it; because I have your money, your future, and your friends in the palm of my hand." She studied Elphaba's face. "Isn't our dearest Sapphire planning on trying to buy herself free?" she asked casually. "Strange, isn't it? The last time I checked, she didn't have nearly enough money for such an attempt... and some money disappeared from my office right around Jade's death. Maybe I'll just accuse Sapphire of theft and have her thrown in the dungeons... or I could refuse to let her go and keep her here for another while."

Elphaba gritted her teeth. "You monster," she spat.

Morrible smirked at her. "I didn't get my successful business through kindness and generosity, dearie," she said. "Either you get rid of the prince and stay with me for another nice, long while, or I'm not letting Sapphire go. The choice is yours." With that, she turned around. "That being said, I have a lot to attend to. Go prepare for work," she told the younger girl before walking away into her office and closing the door behind her.

Elphaba was seething, but she changed into her revealing little black dress and went back down to the common room to entertain the men there, all the while trying to think of a way to get out of this. Even if she did love Fiyero and wanted a future with him, she couldn't make Lulu the victim of that. One way or another, Lulu had to get away from here and the sooner, the better... but that meant Elphaba had to push Fiyero away.

She didn't want to. She really, _really_ didn't want to. She liked him, she thought she might love him; and even though she couldn't see herself as a princess or even as his wife, she did want some kind of future with him.

On the other hand, however, she still thought that he would be better off without her in the long run. He needed a girl from his own world – someone beautiful of high status who would not be frowned upon by the people and who would make an excellent queen. What could a crown prince possibly want with an orphaned, green prostitute who wasn't even of Vinkun nationality?

She kept mulling it over all night and the following day as well, even as she walked across the village to meet Fiyero in the park. It was a beautiful, sunny day and when she arrived, he was already there, sitting on a blanket that was spread out across the grass. There was a basket beside him and he beamed at her when she walked up to him.

"Surprise," he said, getting up to greet her with a kiss. He took her hand and led her over to the blanket. "Picnic to celebrate the first nice spring day. I've got bread, a fruit salad, cheese – no meat, because I know you don't eat that – juice, wine, some pastries, cold blueberry pancakes..."

"Fiyero," she cut him off, torn between being touched and exasperated. "Did you plunder your grandmother's entire kitchen?"

He grinned impishly at her. "Actually, she made most of this," he said, gesturing at the food. "Along with my mum."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Your mother is here?"

He bit his lip, suddenly looking sheepish and slightly guilty. He busied himself opening the basket and piling food on the two plates he'd brought, not looking at her. "Well... yeah."

When he didn't say anything else, she prodded, "Why? When did she arrive? And why didn't you tell me?" She knew she sounded a little hurt, but she couldn't help it. She'd told him basically everything going on in her life – she'd been uncharacteristically open with him – and she'd thought he shared everything with her as well. Did he not trust her? Was he pulling away? Maybe she wouldn't even need to push him away anymore. Maybe her predictions were coming true and he would be going away soon all by himself.

He must have picked up on what she was feeling, because he shook his head, hastening to reassure her. "I would have told you," he said, looking down. "I just..." He sighed. "I was a little embarrassed, I guess. I mean... she came because of the letter I wrote her about you, and about how I've changed. I wasn't even expecting it, but she and Dad agreed it was such a big thing that one of them had to come see me." He glanced at Elphaba. "She'll be leaving again soon," he said carefully. "We've been... working on some plans."

She instantly became suspicious at the look on his face. "What kind of plans?" she asked as she took a bite of a blueberry pancake. It was delicious.

Fiyero was busy stuffing his mouth full of bread and cheese, thus rendering himself unable to reply, and the green girl waited with narrowed eyes for him to finish chewing and swallowing. Once he had, he still didn't say anything and she sighed. "Fiyero."

"Yes?"

She levelled him with a glare.

He averted his gaze.

"Look," she said. "I always knew you would be returning to your home at some point, Yero. If she's come to take you back, or whatever, you can tell me."

He looked shocked. "No! Well... yes," he corrected himself. "I do have to go back, and given the fact that my parents' goal has been achieved and I've changed, albeit not quite because of the country life with my grandparents... maybe indirectly through that, though, but... anyway, given that fact, they do kind of want me back home soon to continue my royal education. But that's not really the plan we were discussing."

He didn't elaborate and Elphaba sighed again. "Spit it out, Fiyero."

He looked uncomfortable, but then he made a decision. "No," he said firmly. "Later. Let's have lunch first. I'm hungry and I don't want you to freak out before we've finished eating this food, otherwise Mum and Grandma will have been working on it for nothing."

Elphaba scowled at him and his words did nothing to ease her nerves, but she relented, knowing by now to pick her battles with him. They ate and chatted about other things. The food was all wonderful and there was so much of it that Fiyero packed up the rest and gave it to Elphaba, telling her to share it with Galinda and Lulu that night or the following day, for which she thanked him. She knew her friends would love a meal like this.

"Do you still think about it often?" he asked her at some point. "About... about what happened right before we met?"

She stilled, her fork with a piece of fruit halfway to her mouth. "You mean the... the baby?"

He nodded and she chewed on her lower lip.

"Sometimes," she said. "I mean... I'm not in any pain anymore, or anything like that, and I wasn't pregnant for long enough to have really felt anything of that... but I can't help but wonder sometimes what it would have been like. To be pregnant and _stay_ pregnant, to give birth and raise a baby... I'm not sure I would be a great mother, though."

"I think you would be a fantastic mother," Fiyero said quietly and she gave him a sad little smile.

"Maybe someday I'll find out," was all she said.

Once they were on their feet again and walking out of the park, the basket dangling from Fiyero's arm, Elphaba gave him a long look. "Now what do you need to tell me?"

He sighed, realising she wasn't going to let this go. "All right," he began. "Well... Mum knows I'm pretty serious about you. You and me, I mean. Our... relationship."

She raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

"She wants me to return to Adurin Iir," he said, taking a deep breath, "and she would like for you to come with me."

Elphaba stopped walking and stared at him.

"That's what the plans are about," Fiyero continued. He still wasn't looking at her. "She's helping me to find a way to free you from Morrible and bring you to my home. Not for marriage, or anything like that... not yet, anyway." He flushed a little. "But just to... I don't know. To be out of here and to continue whatever it is we have."

She was still staring.

He coughed awkwardly. "Um... only if you want to, of course."

She blinked once, very slowly.

"Fae?" he asked, unsure of what to make of her reaction. "You don't have to. I mean... I know this is going a little fast, but..."

She opened and closed her mouth a few times. She shook her head. Then she took a breath and finally found her voice again. "Yero, I... I don't know," she said, her voice shaking a little. "This is indeed going a little fast and I... I need to think about this. Oz, I can't believe your mother came up with this idea... what in Oz did you tell her about me? And us?"

"Nothing I didn't mean," he said honestly and she sighed, deflating, her shoulders slumping as she turned away from him.

"Hey." He touched her shoulder gently and when she didn't pull away, he moved both hands to her shoulders and started massaging them. "You can think about it," he assured her. "It's okay. I get that it's a bit much now, all at once."

She didn't say anything and he continued rubbing her shoulders for a while before putting his chin on her shoulder, his arms sliding around her waist. "Fae?"

"Yeah." She sighed again, but she did lean into a him a little, which he considered a good sign. He started planting soft kisses on her neck until he felt her relax and he grinned a little. That always worked.

"Let's go back to Morrible's," he murmured into her ear. "We can spend some time in your room, maybe read together for a while or something."

She detached herself from him, pulling away and hugging herself. "Actually," she said quietly, "I think I'd rather go back alone. I mean... I need to think."

"Oh. Of course." He tried to hide his disappointment. He was pretty sure thiswas _not_ a good sign. "I'll walk you back."

She shook her head. "It's fine. I can get back by myself." She hesitated. "Yero, I hope you know that it's just... I mean... I can't be someone's wife," she said almost pleadingly, desperate for him to understand. "I wouldn't know how. I'm not made for that. You'd need an heir, and being a mother is something I would probably be even worse at than being a wife, and... and the whole princess thing? That just freaks me out. I can't do that. I'm not meant to do that. No matter how much I like you, or even love you, life isn't a novel. Love doesn't conquer all and the prince can't always save the damsel in distress. Sometimes he just needs to leave the damsel be and let her fight her own battles while he goes off to find a damsel better suited for him."

He snorted sceptically. "Sometimes, maybe," he said. "But this isn't one of those times. It's not hard being a wife, Fae. It's just the same as being with me now, only with a ring and a piece of paper binding us, and in a new place. I already told you I'm convinced you'll be a wonderful mother and as for the princess thing, you can learn that. Everyone would help you. This conversation isn't over yet."

She didn't say anything and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her for a moment before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Think about it," he told her. "I'll visit you tomorrow night, all right?"

"All right," she whispered. She turned around and started walking back to the brothel, not looking over her shoulder even once. She'd have to convince him. She'd have to break things off with him and make him go home by himself. She'd meant everything she'd told him just now and then there was Morrible to think about, and Lulu... she had no other choice. She would have to ban Fiyero from her life.

* * *

 **I should probably sit my arse down to write the ending to this fic soon, but for some reason all kinds of other things keep coming up... Not to mention the fact that I'm going on a theatre/musical trip to London next week, so there'll be a bit of a hiatus for a few days. Maybe that'll inspire me! (The trip, not the hiatus.)**


	13. The Love's Ways

**Still very much appreciating the reviews. :)**

* * *

 **13\. The Love's Ways**

Oh, but it was so hard. Not even to get him to go away, since she hadn't actually tried that yet. She was already having too hard a time getting herself to actually start pushing him away in the first place.

When Fiyero returned to the brothel on Monday evening, he was greeted by a knowingly smirking Morrible. "Good evening, Your Highness. I'm assuming you're here to see Emerald? That will be five gold pieces for the whole night."

His eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?" he asked, blinking at her. "What happened to two?"

She gave him a triumphant little grin. "Well, Your Highness, since you have been getting so much more out of Emerald than simply a couple of nights of fun, I don't think my asking a higher price is too bold, do you?" she purred innocently.

Fiyero stared at her.

"She knows," Galinda informed him as she brushed past him with Pfannee and Olia on her heels. "About you and El– Emerald."

Fiyero grimaced. "Oh."

Morrible smugly held out a hand. "Five pieces of gold, then, please, Your Highness. In return, though," she offered, "I won't kick you out at three in the morning. You can spend the night if you want to – it's not like it matters much at this point."

Fiyero brightened a little at that and he dug into his pockets, searching for more money. He supposed this shouldn't surprise him. Elphaba had been right: Morrible was bound to find out about their relationship sooner or later. He supposed they were lucky she didn't do anything else, since of course she would try to take advantage of it in some way. It wasn't like he really minded, either – as a crown prince, he had more than enough money to spare – but it was a matter of principle.

"For the record," Pfannee whispered in his ear as she followed Galinda and Olia past the bar and further into the common room, "I still think you should have picked me. We would have been wonderful together." She batted her eyelashes at him.

He ignored her, shoving the gold pieces across the bar at Morrible, and her grin widened as she pocketed them and gestured to the stairs. "Have fun, Your Highness."

He quickly moved up the stairs and down the hallway, slipping into Elphaba's room and quietly closing the door behind him. He didn't see her at first and he frowned, stepping farther into the room; but then he saw that she was sprawled on the blankets, arms wrapped around a pillow and her lips slightly parted. She was fast asleep.

He decided to refrain from waking her and instead sat down in the armchair by the bed, watching her sleep as he had done a few times before already and thinking about things. She stirred after a while, yawning, her eyes blinking open, and then she suddenly shot up. She looked around wildly before noticing him and she relaxed visibly.

"Thank Oz it's you," she sighed, rubbing her eyes and then running her hands over her face and through her hair. "If someone else had found me asleep... I'm sorry," she apologised, but he waved her away.

"It's fine, Fae," he said, abandoning the chair in favour of the bed. He reached out to push some hair away from her face, running his thumb along her cheek. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes. "Are you all right?"

She yawned, quickly covering her mouth with her hand. "Yeah," she said tiredly. "I'm fine. I just haven't been sleeping well," she admitted.

"Delani?" he asked knowingly and she nodded.

"Sort of." She tilted her head a little to the side. "I do think about her a lot, about what drove her to do what she did... and I think we've all gotten a little jumpy, keeping a close eye on one another, afraid that someone else might follow." She sighed and pushed her hands through her hair again. "And then there's Lulu, who still isn't coping well. She's planning on getting away, but she's afraid to leave on her own, especially so soon after this happened... I don't think she'd be okay if she left right now." And then there was the matter of Morrible not letting her go if Elphaba didn't break things off with Fiyero, but of course she didn't tell him that.

"So she's staying longer?" Fiyero asked and she nodded again.

"For a little while," she said quietly. "She's having a lot of nightmares. She comes into my room almost every night after waking up from one; she doesn't like to sleep alone. I don't know how she can ever leave this place by herself, but she has to." She sighed. "One of us has to, if only to show the others that there is still hope."

"There's always hope," Fiyero insisted, pulling her into his arms. "Just... don't give up."

"Never," she assured him and she meant it.

He slid his hand up to her neck, cradling the back of her head as he leaned in for a long, heated kiss. She kissed him back eagerly, allowing herself to get tangled up in him and forget about everything else for a little while. She'd worry about all that later. For now, she wrapped herself around him, his scent enveloping her, and he pulled away a little to be able to look into her eyes.

"Fae," he breathed.

"Mmh?"

He took a deep breath. "I love you."

She studied his face, looked deep into his bright blue eyes to try and discern his emotions, gauging if he was sincere or not. Just like last time, however, she saw no indication that he was lying. That didn't necessarily mean he was telling the truth – maybe he was simply feeling something else, some kind of affection that he was confusing with love – but before she could analyse it further, she found herself confessing, "I think I might love you, too."

His eyes lit up, a smile breaking through on his face that nearly took her breath away, and he tried to kiss her again. She pressed her finger to his lips, however, stopping him.

"That doesn't mean I don't still believe you'll walk away," she warned him. "And it certainly doesn't mean I think it'd be a good idea for us to get married, even if you don't walk away. I could never be a princess, Fiyero. I'm not princess material, your people wouldn't accept me, and there are a thousand more reasons why us having anything more than a short-term fling would be a bad idea."

"Less talking," he muttered against her finger. "More kissing."

She rolled her eyes, moving away from him. "You are insufferable."

He gave her a lopsided grin. "It's one of my many qualities."

She huffed, but he drew her closer again, cupping her face with both hands and stealing another kiss before she could protest. Grinning, he twined his fingers in her hair. "I told you I was still working on all that," he said. "We'll find a way. I have a plan, you know. First, I will need to convince you that you really do love me. After that, I'll find a way to free you and take you out of here without you murdering me because I damaged your pride and without Morrible being able to do anything about it. Only then am I going to work on the whole royalty issue. Okay?"

She had to smile a little. "I guess that does sound like a plan. You're certainly persistent."

"I never give up," he informed her. "I'm probably even more stubborn than you are. It drove my parents crazy, my grandparents, my teachers, and even the royal advisors; and I can tell you now that it's going to drive you crazy, too."

She smirked. "I have no trouble believing that." A part of her wanted him to be stubborn and persistent about this. A part of her wanted him to not give up on her, no matter how hard she pushed.

But no. It couldn't happen. She had to stop this – she'd already let it go too far.

"So Morrible knows about us?" Fiyero asked, changing the subject. "She charged me more than double the price tonight, but she also told me I could stay here the entire night this time."

Elphaba bit her lip. She knew Morrible had only let him stay all night so that she could get more money out of him while he was still here and so that Elphaba would have more time to break things off with him, but she also knew that she wouldn't be able to do it. Not tonight, anyway. Morrible hadn't really given her an ultimatum and Lulu wasn't yet planning on leaving, anyway, so she just needed a little more time. "Yeah. She knows," she said timidly. "She saw and overheard us after our walk the other day."

Fiyero stretched out on the bed. "Thank Oz she doesn't really seem to mind as long as I keep paying," he muttered.

Elphaba chose not to reply to that, having no idea what she could say.

Fiyero asked her about what she was reading and her face lit up as she started telling him about the book she'd picked up from the library, the story and the characters, and how much she loved it.

"Have I ever properly thanked you for that library card?" she asked him and he laughed.

"Only about a thousand times."

She gave him a sheepish grin. "Well... I'll just thank you again," she said. "it was the best gift ever. I've been able to read more books in the past few weeks than in the year before that, not having to go to the library all the time to read there."

He smiled, but then grew serious again. He crossed his legs. "Fae?"

She stretched out on the bed on her stomach, her feet up in the air as she propped her chin up on her hands. "Yes?"

"I've been wanting to ask you something."

When he didn't continue, she raised an eyebrow at him inquiringly.

He took a breath. "Why do you all stay here?" he asked bluntly. "Why don't you just run away?"

She blinked at him.

"I mean," he continued, "of course you need money to provide for yourself once you're out of here, but why not take the money you have saved so far and run? Why wait until Morrible lets you go once you're twenty-five?"

Elphaba smiled a little sadly. "Don't you think the thought never crossed our minds?" She shook her head. "It's a simple question with a simple answer, Fiyero. We don't have any money," she said. "Morrible keeps it all locked away for us. We can ask for small portions of it to buy ourselves something when we want to, but she'll never give us our entire savings until we're twenty-five. She keeps it all very neatly written down in a book – what we have earned, what we have spent, what she took for her own, and what we will then have left to use for ourselves. It's her way of controlling us. One of us can only go if she decides to let us – otherwise we're stuck."

"Oh," he said, disappointed. He supposed he hadn't thought of that, but he now remembered her mentioning something about Delani having gotten hold of her money despite Morrible keeping it locked away. "I was just thinking about ways for you to get out of here, and then I thought about this... but of course you already thought of that first."

She gave him a little grin. "Don't worry, Yero, I know you're new to this whole thinking thing," she teased.

He shot her a dirty look, which she countered with an innocent smile, showing off her dimples and melting him in an instant. He sighed irritably and then launched himself at her, tickling her sides, making her squirm and shriek as she tried to get away from him. Someone pounded on the wall, which made them stop instantly, and a woman's voice shouted for them to "Keep it down!".

Elphaba and Fiyero shared a look and then burst out laughing.

"Milla," Elphaba said, still giggling as she rolled onto her back, gasping for air. "Sweet Oz, she must think we've really got things going in here."

Fiyero snorted a laugh and fell down on the bed beside her. Their laughter died away and he looked at her, studying her face. She turned her head to look back at him and they remained that way for a brief while before Elphaba tentatively leaned in a little and kissed him.

He was a little surprised at that. She'd never initiated a kiss before – not really – and he was happy with this new development, because it felt like it was another of those tiny steps in the right direction. He kissed her back eagerly, leaning over her a little in order to be able to better reach her lips.

He'd love to do more with her than just kissing, but he wouldn't dare suggest it or try to make a move in that direction. He knew how skittish she was, how afraid that he only wanted her for that, and he didn't. He'd never wanted sex for any other reason than for fun or pleasure, but it didn't feel that way with Elphaba. It just felt like he wanted to know her, all of her, inside and out, and to be with her in every possible way. He inwardly groaned at his own cheesy thoughts. One more of those and he'd make himself sick.

It was true, though, he thought as he kissed her, and then he stopped thinking at all because kissing wasn't an activity that required thinking and it was, in fact, much more enjoyable if he just focused on the kissing and not on the stupid thoughts running around in his head.

As usual, they kissed and talked for a while and Elphaba eventually changed into her nightgown and curled up in his arms, drifting off to sleep with him not far behind. It was nice to be able to sleep with her like this without having to worry about Morrible finding them or kicking him out at three, he thought drowsily before sleep claimed him as well. He just hoped the old fish didn't have anything else up her sleeve.

* * *

 **Poor Fiyero. He has no idea.**

 **I'll be leaving for London early Tuesday morning, so I'll post chapter 14 on Monday and chapter 15 on Saturday. I'm sure you'll be happy to know I won't leave you on a cliffy, haha.**

 **Guest: We're going to try to see Wicked (of course), Les Mis, Matilda, and Phantom of the Opera :).**


	14. The Mind's Struggles

**Thanks for all your well-wishes for my London trip! I'm sure it will be awesome :).**

 **Nothing bad happening, really. (Not yet, anyway.) You're lucky I'm going on hiatus with this chapter, because it's actually a pretty nice one. Next one is less nice - but let's not worry about that yet, shall we?**

* * *

 **14\. The Mind's Struggles**

Elphaba awoke in the middle of the night because the door creaked as it opened. She sat up a little, rubbing her eyes, and a quiet voice asked, "Elphaba?"

The green girl yawned. "Hey, Lulu." She motioned for the other girl to come in, but Lulu hesitated in the doorway.

"What about...?" She nodded at Fiyero.

Elphaba smiled tiredly. "It's fine," she said. "He's not here for... that. I mean, we're both... um... decent." She flushed a little, but shook it off. "He won't mind."

"Oh." Lulu looked a little uncomfortable, but she did come in, shutting the door behind her and crawling onto the bed.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Elphaba asked gently, sitting up against the headboard and cradling Lulu's head in her lap as the other girl lay down on her side in the foetal position.

Lulu nodded almost imperceptibly. "Elphaba?"

"Yes?"

Lulu shivered a little. "I'm leaving," she said. "Soon. I have to."

"Shh. I know. You will."

"No, I mean..." Lulu looked up at the green girl, her brown eyes wide in the darkness. "I... I'm pregnant."

Elphaba stilled. " _What_?" she asked, shocked.

Lulu winced, biting her lip. "I've known for a while now," she whispered. "I didn't tell anyone. I was scared and I didn't want to risk someone accidentally mentioning something when Morrible could hear..."

"How long?"

Lulu closed her eyes for a moment. "Almost five months," she confessed, a catch in her voice.

Elphaba was absolutely baffled. She had hardly noticed anything different about Lulu, but apparently she'd been pregnant even before Elphaba herself had undergone the procedure to abort her own pregnancy.

"I knew I probably wouldn't start to show for a long while yet," Lulu continued, "so I tried to keep it hidden until I could figure out a way to leave... and now I have – just in time, because I'm beginning to show, if you pay close attention." She started chewing her lip again. "None of the men have really noticed yet and neither has Morrible – they all just think I've gained some weight – but I have to go, Elphaba," she said almost pleadingly. "I knew right from the start that I couldn't let this baby be taken away. Even though I don't know or care who the father is, I'm still going to be a mother. I want this baby. I'm going to have it and I'm going to take care of it."

Elphaba stroked her hair, slowly running her fingers through the long, dark brown strands as she let the news sink in. "It's all right," she murmured. "No-one is going to hurt you or your baby. You are going to get out of here, Lu. You're going to get out and you're going to do great things. Just a few more days and then I want you to be gone, understood? Don't take any risks here. You have the means to leave now."

"I know," Lulu whispered, closing her eyes. "And I won't. Thank you."

Elphaba rested her head back against the headboard as she kept stroking Lulu's hair in a soothing, repetitive motion. She softly hummed a song under her breath to help the other girl get to sleep, but she herself stayed awake for a while longer, processing her friend's news and hoping with all her might that Lulu would somehow find her way in this world.

That was how Fiyero found them when he woke up at some point during the night: Elphaba sitting up against the headboard, her head tilted back and her eyes closed, asleep just like the smaller girl whose head was cradled in the Elphaba's lap. The green girl's hand was still resting on Lulu's hair and Fiyero sat up and carefully tugged Elphaba to lean against him, hoping that position would make her neck hurt a little less in the morning. He knew Lulu must have had another nightmare and had come to seek out Elphaba, and he knew that the older girl had tried to comfort her friend the best she could, despite the horrors they'd both endured, they pain they were in on a daily basis, and the hopelessness of their lives.

It only made him love her more.

* * *

The following afternoon, Elphaba found herself in Galinda's room. The smaller girl was experimenting with make-up at the vanity, chattering away about something, but Elphaba wasn't really listening. She was still thinking about Fiyero and Morrible and what she was going to do next.

"...don't you think so, Elphie?"

"Huh?" Elphaba looked up, startled. "Oh. Um... yes?" she tried, not having heard a word the blonde had said.

Galinda moved across the room and leapt onto the bed with her friend. "That's it, Elphaba Thropp," she said sternly. "What's on your mind? You've been quiet and distracted for a few days now and you've been wearing your thinking face."

Elphaba chortled. "My thinking face?"

Galinda nodded solemnly. "Yes. What's going on? Did something happen with Fiyero?"

"No." Elphaba hesitated. "Or... yes? I'm not sure. I mean... several things happened, I guess, and I'm just... confused."

"Tell me," Galinda ordered. When her friend just bit her lip, she took Elphaba's hand and added, "Elphie, we're best friends. You can tell me anything and I won't judge or tell anyone else. I promise."

Elphaba sighed and then relented, knowing she could trust the blonde. Maybe Galinda could even help her. She told the other girl about the threats Madame Morrible had made and the things she'd said; and then about everything Fiyero had told her about his ideas for their future together and her own doubts and reservations.

"Oh, Elphie..." Galinda's eyes were wide with shock. "What are you going to do? You can't honestly want to break things off with Fiyero!"

"What other choice do I have?" Elphaba asked. "I can't become his princess, let alone his queen – it's just not an option. And Lulu _has_ to get out of here, Glin. The sooner, the better. If she doesn't, she might just end up like Delani one day." And then there was the problem of Lulu's pregnancy, but she wouldn't tell Galinda about that. Lulu had told her that in confidence.

Galinda shook her head. "Then we need a plan," she decided. "Can't you tell Fiyero about all this? He can pretend to leave, then Lulu can get out of here, and then he can return to get you free..."

"But then she won't let _you_ go," Elphaba pointed out, "or she'll try something else to keep me from leaving. Besides," she added quietly, "I'm not sure I want to go with Fiyero, Glin."

Galinda waved her friend away. "You'll learn," she assured her. "About the whole royalty thing, and all. You'll be fine."

"But it's not just that." Elphaba ran her fingers through her hair. "I mean... he cares about me. I know that. But what if he's only doing this because he feels sorry for me? I don't want to be his charity case, Glin, and I'm not entirely sure if I believe him when he tells me that he loves me."

Galinda was gaping now, utterly incredulous. "Elphie!"

"What? It's possible, isn't it?"

"No, it's not," said Galinda indignantly. "Anyone with eyes can see the man has fallen in love with you, Elphaba, and anyone with eyes can also see that you've fallen in love with _him_. You're just too afraid to admit it. But think about this," she said, leaning forward. "The thought of being with Fiyero might be scary, but isn't the thought of never seeing him again and spending another six years with Morrible even scarier?"

Elphaba fell silent.

"Think about it, Elphie," Galinda advised her. "Just sleep on it, or something. Don't throw it all away because you're afraid."

Elphaba looked at her helplessly and the blonde girl hugged her. "Don't worry," she told her dark-haired friend. "I'll help you. It's all going to be okay."

Elphaba sincerely doubted that, but she appreciated Galinda's efforts to reassure her. She just hoped the other girl could help her find a solution to her problems as well.

* * *

She didn't have to work the next night and Fiyero came to pick her up and take her to his grandparents' farm so that she could meet his mother and spend the night there, away from Madame Morrible. She was nervous again, perhaps even more so now than she had been when meeting Kevon and Calinne, but she needn't have worried. Queen Elora was nothing like the regal, stately woman Elphaba had imagined her to be and soon, the two of them were wrapped up in discussions about literature, education, politics, and their own lives. Elphaba told Lori her life story and the queen in turn shared with the green girl the story of growing up at Adurin Iir with everything she could ever want and a lot of things she _didn't_ want, such as the pressure of being the only heir to the Vinkun throne.

"I was determined to have more children," she confided in Elphaba. "I was an only child and I hated the burden that fell on my shoulders – not so much the fact that I had to become queen, but the fact that I didn't have a choice in that whatsoever. I decided at an early age that I would have at least two children, preferably more, so that there would be a choice for the eldest to abdicate if he or she really wanted to."

Fiyero had never heard that story, either. "Why didn't you?" he asked almost accusingly.

His mother looked at him. "Because I nearly died in childbirth with you," she reminded him. He shuddered and nodded, remembering that story. Lori looked at Elphaba again. "Fiyero's birth was a difficult one and the midwife told me a second child could cost me my life. Hamold especially didn't want to risk it." She smiled sadly. "And that is how the same burden I had always hated got dumped on my only child."

"That wasn't your fault, though," Elphaba protested.

"I know," Lori said. "But it felt like it was... a little. It felt like I had failed. Especially once Fiyero recognised his responsibilities and started doing anything he could to avoid them. I knew he resented Hamold and me for not giving him a choice, even though he probably also knew that we never did that on purpose, and that hurt."

Fiyero was watching his mother with a small frown on his face. "I did," he admitted. "Resent you, I mean. But... but I didn't know the whole story. I'm so sorry, Mum. I never knew how badly I was hurting you and Dad. Not really."

She smiled at him. "It's all right, Yero," she forgave him, pulling him into her arms and hugging him. "I think we could have done a lot of things differently, your father and I. We should have talked to you more about it all – we should have had this conversation a long time ago already." She looked at Elphaba, who felt a little uncomfortable, as if she was intruding on a private moment. "I'm glad he met you," Lori told her, which surprised her. "I always knew there would be something to bring him back at some point in his life, but I never knew for certain what that would be or when it would happen."

"He did it all by himself," Elphaba countered and Lori nodded.

"He did," she agreed. "But I still don't think it would have happened if he hadn't met you."

Elphaba had no idea what to say to that.

"Did Kevon and Calinne tell you about Hamold yet?" Lori asked her. "That his behaviour was much the same as Fiyero's when he was a teenager? Hamold didn't even have royal responsibilities then, just work here on the farm, but he was nearly as bad as Yero here."

The green girl grinned a little. "They told me some things about that, yes."

"The story of how King Hamold Tiggular of the Vinkus ended up falling face-first into a pile of horse dung." Lori shook her head. "Thank Oz he wasn't actually the king yet back then. I wouldn't have known how to explain that to the people who saw it happen."

"And half of Reins saw it happen, if I remember correctly," Kevon said with a grin. "Didn't he jump into the river afterwards to try and wash off the dung?"

"He did," Lori agreed, laughing a little.

Elphaba stared at the older woman. "And what made him think that was a good idea, exactly?" she asked incredulously. "I haven't heard this story yet!"

"He was drunk," Fiyero informed her.

"That he was," Lori agreed. "I honestly don't know what possessed me to fall in love with him despite all that. Anyone else might have broken things off with him right then and there, but I didn't, for some reason, and now here we are." She smiled at Elphaba. "He's much more mature now – Hamold, I mean. I'm sure Fiyero will get there one day, too."

Fiyero rolled his eyes at his mother.

Elphaba could only look at them, Fiyero and his family, and she found herself wishing she could be a part of this, too. It would be so wonderful to have a family – not just Fiyero, but his parents and grandparents as well, caring about her the way her own parents and grandparents should have cared about her. What she wouldn't give to finally have that...

She couldn't, though. Not with Morrible's threats hanging over her, and not with her own insecurities and fears in the way. Today, she was here, talking with Fiyero and his family; but tomorrow, she would have to start pushing him away and convince him to go back home and forget about her. It was going to be hard, but she had to. If only for Lulu.

After dinner, they spent the evening talking some more by the fireplace. Calinne played the piano and everyone sang along, the atmosphere light and merry. Happy. Elphaba savoured it.

When they eventually all retreated for the night, Fiyero led her over to his own room; but she hesitated in the doorway, fidgeting. "Yero... what will your family think –"

"They're fine with it," Fiyero cut her off, taking her hand and gently tugging her into the room. "Mum thought you might be more comfortable staying with me, since I've spent most of the night with you so many times already. Besides, Grandma and Grandpa only have two guest rooms and Mum is staying in the other one, so unless you want to take the couch, you don't really have a choice."

"I don't mind the couch –"

"But I do." He grinned crookedly at her. "You're sleeping here and that's the end of it." He put his hands on her hips, slowly sliding them up her sides. "I love you."

She just looked at him, seeming lost, somehow; and his grin faded, concern taking over his face. "Fae? Are you all right?"

"I..." It almost tumbled off her lips – the whole story, everything Morrible had said – but she swallowed it back just in time. She forced a smile. "I'm fine," she said, placing her own hands on his shoulders. He looked like he was about to keep going on about it, so she leaned in and kissed him – softly at first, but the kiss grew fiercer when he forgot about his worry and responded to her, his arms coming around her. For tonight, at least, she decided not to think about what was to come.

* * *

 **SO IF YOU CARE TO FIND ME, LOOK TO THE WESTERN SKY! (Unless you're in America/Canada/Mexico/somewhere over there. Then you'll still have to look to the east.)**

 **I'm off to London, so the next update won't be until Saturday. In the meantime, if you want to see me squeal about London and the things/shows we're going to see, keep an eye on my Twitter page.**


	15. The Couple's Dilemma

***sing-song voice* It's good to see me, isn't it? No need to respond - that was rhetorical!**

 **I had the most amazing time in London. We aimed for three musicals in four days; we ended up seeing five. _Matilda_ , _Wicked_ , _Les Miserables_ , _the Phantom of the Opera_ , and _The Lion King_. They were all epic and beautiful and right now I'm having withdrawal symptoms.**

 **More good news - while in London, I've almost finished writing chapter 21 of this fic, which will be the final chapter!**

* * *

 **15\. The Couple's Dilemma**

They found themselves in the bed not long thereafter, both of them dressed in their nightclothes. The bed wasn't quite as big as Elphaba's back at _The Hidden Depths_ was, but it was more than big enough for the two of them. Fiyero pulled her close and she didn't resist, instead turning to face him and kissing him again.

"Not that I'm complaining," he mumbled against her lips, "but what's gotten into you? You seem a little more enthusiastic than usual tonight."

Guilt flooded her, because she knew he was right and she knew her enthusiasm was mainly fuelled by the knowledge that this would all be over soon. She grinned at him, though. "I don't know," she said, trailing her fingers down the side of this face. "I guess I'm just happy to be away from Morrible, if only for one night." That was true, too. "It feels less... controlling, you know?" She blushed a little. "Even though your grandparents and your mother are just down the hall..."

Fiyero chuckled and planted another kiss on her lips. "Well," he said. "I know for a fact that Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom is all the way on the other side of the hall, far out of earshot; and my mother is probably the most heavy sleeper in all of Oz, so..." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

She watched him with those enormous dark brown eyes of hers, a mischievous twinkle creeping into them, and he blinked at her a few times. He recognised the look in her eyes, but it confused him a little. "Fae?"

She kissed him in reply, her arms winding around his neck as she pressed herself closer to him. His own arms encircled her waist as he kissed her back. He loved the feeling of having her in his arms. It made him feel more settled, somehow, like he could take on the whole world. Her kisses were fierce and passionate and he soon found his common sense wandering away from him, clouded by the feel of her skin and the scent of her hair. His fingers travelled to the hem of her nightgown almost as if they had a will of their own, but then lingered there as he forced himself to stop.

She drew away from him slightly, just enough to be able to look into his eyes. "Don't stop," she whispered.

He shook his head. "Fae, I told you I didn't want that from you," he said firmly. "That's not why I want to be with you."

"I know," she said, smiling a little sadly. "You're sweet, Yero. I know that's not why you want to be with me." She bit her lip. "I guess I've known that for a while now," she confessed, lowering her gaze. "I just had a hard time believing it. After the life I've led… I still do, a little."

He stroked her cheek. "We'll keep working on that," he promised her.

She let out a soft laugh. "One step at a time. I remember. And I love you for it." It slipped out before she could catch herself and her eyes widened. She hadn't meant to say that. She did love him, she was fairly certain of that by now, but she _couldn't_ – and she certainly hadn't intended to tell him. Her telling him she loved him was an even bigger step than her telling him she _thought_ she might love him and she was meant to be pushing him away right now, not pulling him closer.

The grin that spread across his face, however, almost made it all worth it. "You do?"

She nodded shyly, figuring the damage was done now. "I do." She moved in to kiss him again, laying the palms of her hands against his bare chest, but he stopped her.

"I don't want to take advantage of you," he said, eyeing her worriedly.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Less talking," she told him, repeating his words from the other day back at him with a smirk. "More kissing."

He scowled at her. "I'm serious."

"So am I." She kissed him again. "I want to, Fiyero," she assured him. "I know you would never take advantage of me. Not like all those other men. You're different." She felt her cheeks burning a little. "The only way I've ever done this is as a survival strategy," she confessed, meeting his startled gaze. "For work – nothing more. I want to know what it's like to do it because _I_ want to... with someone who actually cares about me. Loves me," she corrected herself when she saw the look on his face. She gave him an imploring look. "Please?"

He closed his fingers around her wrists, however, stopping her from moving. "There's one thing I've been wanting to ask you for a while," he whispered. "I just never knew how."

She tilted her head a little to the side inquiringly.

He took a deep breath. "You were sixteen when you came to Madame Morrible," he began. "And you'd never... you know... before, right?"

She recognised where he was going with this, but she decided to let him ask the question himself and she shook her head. "No."

He nodded. "So... your first time..."

She sighed, pulling away from him a little to sit back on her knees. "Virgins bring in a higher price," she muttered, not really wanting to talk about this. "When a new girl comes in, Morrible usually takes a week or so to have the other girls explain how things work around there and what the girl should and shouldn't do in her... work. During that week, she informs every customer coming in that she has a new girl and they can offer her a price. The highest bidder gets the girl's first time."

Fiyero stared at her, horror and sadness and sympathy warring in his bright blue eyes, but she shook her head at him.

"It doesn't matter," she told him, cupping his face between her hands. "It's in the past and it doesn't matter now. If I stopped to think about every man I've been with, Yero, I'd drive myself crazy. It could have been much worse – that's all I'm hanging on to. I could have ended up like Delani."

He winced and she tilted his chin up, making him look at her again. "But I didn't," she reminded him. "I'm still here. I suppose a lot of the things I've been through horrify you, but I don't want to let any of that overshadow what we have now. I can't let my past drag me down."

He took her in, absorbing her words, and then he nodded. He pulled her back into his arms and dropped a kiss to her hair, resting his chin on the top of her head for a moment. "You must be the bravest girl – _woman_ – I've ever known," he mused quietly.

She let out a short laugh. "I'm not brave, Fiyero," she corrected him. "I just did what I had to do to survive."

"But you didn't let it break you." He looked at her again, running his thumb along her cheekbone. "You're amazing," he murmured, leaning in to kiss her again. "I don't deserve you."

"You're confusing things, Your Highness. It's the other way around."

He shook his head. "Nope. It's definitely me not deserving you." He ran his fingers through her hair and she looked up at him. "I won't say anything else about it if you don't want me to," he said quietly. "Let's just... consider this a second chance at your first time."

She couldn't help the smile that lit up her face. "I'd like that."

Her hands went back to his chest and he hauled her to him and kissed her deeply, trying to convey everything he felt and thought and wanted to say through his kisses and his touch.

* * *

Over the course of the next few days, Galinda noticed the growing distance between Elphaba and Fiyero – it was so palpable that she almost thought she might be able to measure it if she had some measuring tape. She tried once again to convince Elphaba to change her mind and to tell Fiyero everything, but the green girl wouldn't budge, not even when Galinda enlisted Lulu to help. The younger girl was horrified to learn about Morrible's threats, but didn't want Elphaba to throw away her happiness for her.

"I'll find a way out," she tried, but Elphaba just shook her head.

"No," she said flatly. "That's the end of it, Lu. I'm not risking your freedom over this – over anything. Especially not now, after what you told me," she said with a significant look at Lulu's stomach.

The other girl flushed and didn't protest anymore, knowing her friend was right. Instead she offered a meek, "I'm sorry."

Elphaba smiled at her, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "It's not your fault."

It went on until one night, there was a commotion in the hallway – a door slamming shut followed by the sound of people shouting. Galinda recognised Elphaba and Fiyero's voices and she unceremoniously pushed her current client away from her and padded over to the door in her undergarments, opening the door just a crack and peeking out into the hallway. Elphaba was there, slumped against the wall, looking upset; and Galinda opened the door wider, not caring about anyone seeing her in her scarce clothing.

"Elphie?"

Elphaba glanced at her. "It's over," she said, her voice breaking. "I did it. He's gone. He's going back to the Vinkus with his mother tomorrow."

Galinda bit her lip. "Oh, Elphie…" She made to step out into the hallway, but Elphaba shook her head.

"Don't," she said. "I want to be alone right now. Please. Just… go back to what you were doing." Her look intensified into a glare as she directed it at the handful of other doors that had opened, the other girls and some of their customers peering at her. "All of you," she snapped, suddenly losing her temper. "The show is over!"

The doors hastily closed and Galinda said quietly, "I'm here if you need to talk, Elphie," before watching her friend nod and disappear back into her room. The blonde sighed, closing the door again as well and returning to what she was doing, wondering if Elphaba was okay.

She went to see her friend when her last customer had left. Elphaba was staring out of the window, her back to the door, but she turned a little when she heard Galinda come in.

"Hey," the younger girl said quietly. She stepped up beside Elphaba and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

The green girl didn't answer the question. Instead, she said, "I don't want to stay here, Glin. I don't think I can," she admitted, hugging herself. "I hate it here. I always have, but now… I never fully realised how much control she has over our lives and I don't want that anymore." She looked at Galinda, her dark eyes sad but determined. "Delani got a hold of her savings somehow to give them to Lulu," she said. "If she could do it, so could we."

Galinda was startled. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying we need a plan," said Elphaba grimly. "I'm going to tell Morrible about what happened with Fiyero – although I'm sure she already knows – and I'm going to convince her to let Lulu go. After that, you and I are going to leave as well, Glin. One way or another. I can't stay here a moment longer."

"You want to steal our savings from Morrible?"

Elphaba shrugged. "Why not? It's our money, after all. She has no right to keep it from us." She took Galinda's hands in hers. "We could leave, Glin. We could get away."

Galinda shook her head. "But –"

"If we don't do this, Glin, she's not going to let us go for another six years," Elphaba interrupted her. "I can't do this for six more years. I just can't. I don't think you can, either."

Galinda didn't say anything, because she knew her friend was right. "And then what?" she asked. "When we're free? Are you going to go after Fiyero then?"

Elphaba hesitated. "Maybe," she said doubtfully. "But I don't think so." Her shoulders slumped. "He's better off without me, anyway."

"That is not even remotely true," said Galinda sceptically, but Elphaba ignored her and so she returned to the topic at hand. "What if we get caught?"

" _We_ won't," said Elphaba. "It makes no sense for both of us to risk ourselves. We'll do it not too long after Lulu gets away from here. We'll make sure our bags are packed and ready; you'll stay in your room and I'll go downstairs to try and get the money. If she catches me, she won't know you were even involved in the first place. We'll just have to figure out something else if that happens."

"All right." Galinda took a deep breath. "I'm proud of you, Elphie."

Elphaba grumbled something under her breath. "Say that again once we're actually out of here. Why didn't we do this ages ago?"

Galinda shrugged. "Because we didn't have enough savings – or courage – then," she said. "Because Morrible has spent all this time controlling us so tightly that we didn't dare to even think about stepping out of line. Because she, and our lives so far, convinced us that we would never get anywhere without her – that we'd just end up in the gutter, dying of starvation, if we left."

"We won't, will we?" Elphaba asked, only half joking. Galinda recognised the veiled uncertainty in her voice and her need for reassurance. Elphaba was usually the strong one, but right now, the blonde thought, she just needed someone else to tell her that things were going to work out or she might not find the courage she'd need to see this through. Galinda was actually proud of her friend for showing her vulnerability for once and she hugged the green girl.

"Of course not," she told her. "We're stronger than she made us think we are. We can do this, Elphie. You and me, together. As a team." She kissed her friend's cheek. "I love you, you know. You're my best friend. I don't know what I would have done without you all these years."

Elphaba smiled, more genuinely this time. "I love you, too, Glin. You know the same goes for me." She nodded, decided. "Let's do this together." She was ready to take control of her own life.

* * *

 **Since you guys are still reviewing so enthusiastically (thanks so much for that!), let's see who shall be the 200th reviewer of this story, shall we? :)**


	16. The Madam's Punishment

**And the 200th reviewer is... *drumroll* LifelongLeahstar! Virtual dessert of your choice for you!**

 **Some more stuff coming up in this chapter and it ends with a cliffy... be warned.**

* * *

 **16\. The Madam's Punishment**

The next day, Elphaba was just on her way back from the library in town when she saw the royal Vinkun carriage coming down the country road. She stared after it, her books clutched to her chest, trying to ignore her heartache. There were more important things, she told herself. She'd get out of here, along with Lulu and Galinda, and they'd find a way to be happy. All of them.

She returned to the brothel only to find Morrible in an exceptionally good mood.

"Did you see the carriage, dearie?" she all but sang. "I saw both the prince and the queen inside when they passed by. It seems you've done a marvellous job convincing him to go back to his castle. Well done."

The note of pride in her voice made Elphaba feel sick to her stomach and she excused herself, hurrying upstairs to her room and burying herself in her books for the rest of the day, not wanting to think about Morrible or Fiyero or Lulu or any of it for just a few short hours.

She was mildly surprised to find that Morrible agreed to let Lulu go without too much of a fight. She broached the subject the day after Fiyero had left town and the woman regarded her through narrowed eyes for a while, tapping a finger against her pursed lips.

"You promised," Elphaba insisted and Morrible nodded slowly.

"I did, didn't I?" she agreed. "Very well, dearie. Give me a week or so to settle matters with Sapphire's regular customers and to arrange a couple of things, but then I will let her go. A deal is a deal, after all, and you've served me very well – and will continue to do so for a while yet."

Elphaba suspected that Morrible only did it because she was afraid Elphaba might go after Fiyero otherwise and he'd try to take Morrible down after all – with his family's power and riches, he could pose a serious threat to the brothel if he decided he wanted it closed. Elphaba had considered asking that of him for the briefest of times, but she'd decided against it in the end. She didn't want to drag the whole Vinkun royal family into her problems. No matter why Morrible was doing it, though, she was grateful and she did her work without complaint as she waited for Morrible to indicate that she was ready to let Lulu go.

That, of course, took another while, with Morrible stalling as much as she could and Elphaba pressing her to go through with it as often as she thought she could get away with; but finally, after nearly two weeks, Lulu appeared in the doorway to Elphaba's room with her small bag beside her and her cloak around her shoulders.

"She's letting you go?" Elphaba asked hopefully when she saw her friend, getting to her feet; and Lulu smiled and nodded.

"She's letting me go," she confirmed.

Elphaba moved across the room to embrace the younger girl, hugging her tightly. "Thank Oz," she sighed into Lulu's dark brown hair. "It was about time." She gently touched her friend's abdomen, only noticing the slight swelling there because she knew about it. "Where will you go?"

Lulu shrugged. "I don't know," she said honestly. "Far away from here." She looked at Elphaba sadly. "I wish you could come with me."

Elphaba smiled, taking a step back. "I'll be fine, Lu," she said, trying to sound more cheerful than she felt. "I'll get out of here, too, someday. You'll be fine, too, on your own – you're stronger than you think you are. Take this chance. Leave."

"I will." Lulu gave her friend a look. "And once I'm gone... do me a favour."

"Anything."

"If you get the chance, if there is even the slightest opportunity..." She looked at Elphaba pleadingly. "Talk to Fiyero. Explain everything to him. I hate the thought of you two not ever seeing one another again, Elphaba. You're so obviously in love with one another and it's been so inspiring to see you two together... you _belong_ together. You made me believe in love again. Don't let that go to waste if you can help it."

Elphaba heaved a sigh, her shoulders slumping, but she nodded. "If I ever can, without endangering myself or anyone I care about... I'll try. But I can't promise you anything, Lu. He'll be moving on soon enough, anyway."

"No, he won't," Lulu muttered, convinced of that, but also recognising she would get nowhere with Elphaba now. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will, You do, too. You've got two people to take care of now," Elphaba reminded the younger girl. "Will you be all right?"

"Yes." Lulu smiled. "I don't have _that_ much money, but I have enough to get by for a while and I... I had this idea of where to go."

Elphaba tilted her head a little to the side, curious, and Lulu said, "A mauntery."

The green girl paused for a moment to think about that, surprised, and then she nodded. "You know what?" she said in wonder. "That's actually a wonderful idea. At a mauntery, you'd be taken in and cared for, both you and the baby, at least until well after it's born. You'd probably have to confess to your sins first, or something like that, but I'm sure you'd be cleansed of all guilt and then you can stay without even having to pay. You could get back on your feet that way and try to find a more permanent way to make a living and provide for yourself and the baby." She smiled. "It's a good idea, Lulu. You should do it," she encouraged her. "I hate the thought of you wandering the streets all by yourself, especially in your condition... or worse, having to go back to this life."

Lulu shook her head vehemently. "Never," she declared firmly. "I'd rather not live at all than live this life again."

Elphaba gave her a tight smile. "That's not reassuring, you know."

"Oh." Lulu realised what she'd said and she blushed. "I didn't mean... I mean, I don't think I would ever do what... what Delani did," she said with a small sigh. "I just..."

"I know." Elphaba hugged her again and then pulled away, kissing her friend's forehead. "Get out of here, Lu. Go to a mauntery and do what you have to do to be happy. It's up to you now."

"Will I ever see you again?" Lulu asked in a small voice.

"You can write to me, if you want," Elphaba offered. "I mean... I'd love to stay in touch with you. If you want that, too, just send me a letter when you've reached a somewhat permanent residence and I'll reply. Promise. We can keep in touch that way and maybe we can visit each other at some point."

Lulu looked relieved. "I will." She straightened her back and hoisted her bag onto her shoulder. "Good-bye, Elphaba."

"Bye, Lu," said Elphaba, watching as the younger girl turned around and went down the hallway. She looked over her shoulder once. Elphaba waved; Lulu waved back. Then she left the brothel, never to return.

* * *

Elphaba and Galinda waited another while, wanting Morrible to settle back into her old routine after Lulu's departure and also wanting Lulu to be safely far out of the old woman's reach before they took any action. The green girl received a letter from her pregnant friend after a week or so. Lulu informed her that she had indeed gone to a mauntery on the other side of the Vinkus and she had been taken in instantly; she had a room to herself now and everyone was kind to her and willing to help. She told Elphaba that she was confident she'd be safe there for a while and that she'd receive all the help, care, and support she'd need during her pregnancy and the labour, which eased Elphaba's worries a little. Lulu was safe. Now it was time for the next step.

And so one night, almost a month after Fiyero had returned to Adurin Iir, Elphaba kicked her packed bag underneath her bed to hide it from view and slipped out of her room. She slunk down the hallway and crept down the stairs, careful to omit the one step she knew always creaked. Outside, she heard the clock tower in the centre square of Reins ring five times and she glanced at Morrible's office. Everything was dark. She knew the woman's bedroom was through a door inside her office, but Morrible would have no reason to come out of her room – she should be fast asleep at this time of the night, so Elphaba would just have to be very quiet.

She pulled a thin hair clasp from her raven curls and poked it into the lock, prodding and feeling around. She'd learned how to pick locks out of necessity when she was living on the streets; one of the other orphans who had been kicked out of the orphanage had taught her. She'd never thought it was a skill that would come in handy, but as the door clicked open, she could only be grateful for it.

Elphaba sneaked into the room and started her search. She quietly opened drawers, shuffled papers around, and looked inside the cabinets until she finally found a safe and she swore under her breath. How was she supposed to crack the code to this?

 _Think,_ she told herself. _Delani could do it – so can you._ Maybe Morrible had written the code down somewhere? She turned around to continue her search – for a piece of paper with numbers this time – but then someone suddenly said. "Hello, Emerald."

Elphaba jumped and Morrible glared at her as she entered the office from her room, looking furious. "I had a feeling you'd attempt something like this," she sneered. "Between you pressing me to let your friend leave and your behaviour lately, which has been just a little too innocent compared to normal, I suspected you were up to something." She moved closer. "So I decided to leave the door to my room open just a crack so I could hear if anyone came inside. I'm a light sleeper, you know." Morrible crossed her arms. "Trying to steal from me, are you, dearie? You know how I feel about theft."

"It's not stealing when it's rightfully mine!" Elphaba snapped, her temper flaring; but Morrible just cackled.

"How do you think this would look to the authorities if I were to tell them about this? Poor little Emerald sneaking into my office in the dead of night, trying to get into the safe... correct me if I'm wrong, but I do think you'd be imprisoned, dearie."

Elphaba knew she was right, but she was also fairly certain that Morrible wouldn't call the authorities on her. The older woman preferred to dole out her own punishments.

The green girl didn't say anything and Morrible leaned forward and grabbed her arm, dragging her out of the room and up the stairs. Elphaba struggled, but Morrible's grip was vice-like and she took Elphaba back to her room, all but throwing her inside before slamming the door shut behind her. Elphaba heard the key turn in the lock and Morrible said harshly, "That'll teach you for now until I figure out what to do with you. I will not let this go, dearie, you can count on that." With that, she left, the sound of her footsteps moving away from the door.

Elphaba sighed, deflating as she ran a hand over her face. That had not exactly gone according to plan. What was she going to do now? Galinda was in her own room, ready and with her bag packed, waiting for Elphaba to come fetch her with the money. She'd probably heard the commotion in the hallway, too, and figured out what was going on.

She went to sleep in the end, not seeing what else she could do with the door locked. She'd await whatever punishment Madame Morrible would think up for her and at the first chance she got, she'd deliberate with Galinda again to try and see if they could come up with a new plan.

Even with that decision made, though, she didn't actually sleep very well or very long and she eventually gave up, getting out of bed and leaning on the window sill, staring at the slowly lightening sky. She thought of that one night at Fiyero's grandparents' house, before things had started going awry, and she couldn't help the small smile tugging at her lips. She'd been right. It was so very different when it was her own choice... when it was with someone she loved. She could only hope she'd get another chance with him.

She remembered the days after that, the growing distance between them, and the conversations they'd had. She could only hope that he had meant everything he had told her in those days before his departure... that he really did love her and he'd be willing to let her back in. He was so sweet and she'd hated hurting him; despite the fact that she really did think he was better off without her, she wasn't sure if she was strong enough to stay away if she and Galinda managed to get away from Morrible. Fiyero made her feel things she had never felt before. She loved him. She knew that now. And although she didn't regret sending him away, not with Lulu and her unborn baby's lives on the line, she couldn't help but hope for a second chance with him.

As she mused on those thoughts, there was a soft knock at the door and Galinda's voice. "Elphie?"

The green girl turned around and padded across the room to the still-locked door. "I'm here."

Galinda's voice was hesitant. "I take it that it didn't go well?"

"Not quite, no." Elphaba chuckled mirthlessly. "I'll be all right, though."

"Will you?" Now the blonde sounded wary. "Elphie, Morrible was up at dawn this morning and she's been in her office all this time. I don't want to scare you, but… _he_ is here. I think she's going to make him punish you."

All girls knew what that meant. Morrible's lighter punishments weren't usually so horrible; one less meal if they were lucky, or having to work on their free day or night. When that man was here, however – a friend of Morrible's who was every bit as sadistic as she was – they knew it'd be worse than that. Whiplashes, maybe. Ropes, definitely. It was very likely that he'd try to get some pleasure out of her as well and all the girls knew he liked it rough. Morrible liked having him teach her girls lessons like that when they'd done something wrong because it pretty much ensured that they would never do it again. The mere thought of him being here for her sent shivers crawling down Elphaba's spine, but she bit her lip and kept her head up high.

"Probably," Elphaba agreed flatly. "I'll handle it somehow. It can't be any worse than some of the things I've already been through."

"Oh, Elphaba..."

"There's nothing either of us can do about it, Glin, and I won't have you risking yourself in the process of trying to stop him from hurting me. Whatever's coming for me, I can take it. Just... try to think of a different plan. We still have to leave. Maybe now more than ever."

"I will," Galinda whispered. There was a rustling sound. "I have to go. Morrible is coming." She was quiet for a moment, then said, "Good luck, Elphie."

"Thanks." They both knew she'd need it.

Galinda left and Elphaba sagged against the wall, closing her eyes for a moment as she braced herself for what was to come. She'd suspected Morrible would do something like this – set that man on her to try and break her spirit and to teach her a lesson. The thought made her feel sick, but she knew she could take it. She had to. For Lulu, and for Galinda, and for Fiyero... for herself. She just had to take comfort in the thought that whatever happened, she would be out of this place soon.

A key turned in the lock, the door opened, and Morrible let the man into the room. She smirked at Elphaba as she closed the door again. "Here's your punishment, dearie," she purred. "Enjoy it." Then she was gone and it was just Elphaba and the man.

She looked up at him, careful to keep her face blank. He was a tall, bulky blond man with a weather-beaten face and a crooked grin. He was holding a length of rope and a whip. It seemed so stupid, so very cliché, but she knew it would be effective nonetheless.

He smirked at her, studying her so closely it made her uncomfortable, but she didn't dare show it. "Pretty little thing, despite the colour," he decided. "I think we'll have a good time together."

Elphaba snarled at him, but he uncoiled the whip in one quick movement and struck her across the face with such force that she crashed into the wall. "Be respectful, you little slut," he said coolly.

She could feel blood trickling down her face and she could taste it, too, but she just spat it out and wiped it away with her hand. It made her angry and more than a little afraid of what was yet to come. She'd told Galinda she could take it, but could she really? She wasn't so sure now. Her face stung, but she knew that this was only the beginning if she didn't manage to fight him off.

"Don't worry," the man told her as he ran his fingers down her cheek and neck, brushing against the collar of her revealing nightgown with a smirk. "You might even enjoy it."

He tied her wrists together, the ropes so tight that she could feel them chafing her skin, and panic took over despite her desperate attempts to control herself. Elphaba bit, kicked, and struggled even as he whipped her again to punish her for it. She spat a mouthful of blood and saliva into his face and he reddened in fury as he wiped it off.

"You should not have done that."

"Go to hell," she choked out.

He tied her bound wrists to the bed and then stepped back to admire his work. He tapped the whip against his hand and fear and adrenaline coursed through her body, even though she tried her hardest to calm herself down and think rationally. The man just grinned at her and slowly dragged the tip of his whip along her body.

"Now we can get started," he purred as he raised the whip again.


	17. The Blonde's Help

**I'm sure you guys will be happy with this update!**

* * *

 **17\. The Blonde's Help**

Galinda, meanwhile, was trying her hardest to save her friend from the pain she knew awaited her.

"Please," she pleaded with the other girls, who were just having breakfast in the common room. "He'll hurt her!"

"What can we do?" Nalenne asked logically. "If we try to interfere, Morrible will hurt _us_."

"We've all been hurt at some point or another, Galinda," Shenshen said. "Don't get me wrong, I don't approve of this, but... Nalenne is right. Interfering won't do us – or her – any good."

"I say it serves her well," Pfannee commented, only to shriek in shock and anger when Galinda suddenly lashed out and yanked at her hair. She leapt to her feet, going for Galinda, but Shenshen and Olia held her back even as Falin tried to stop the blonde from hitting Pfannee across the face.

"Let me go," Galinda snapped at Falin. "I'm not going to hurt her again. She's not even worth it. You all make me sick," she spat at the others before whirling around and running from the room, straight out into the streets. There was only one place she could think of to go to for help.

Even from a distance, Galinda could see movement both inside and around the house, which reassured her somewhat – at least someone was home. She ran down the country road and pounded on the front door, biting her lip until she tasted blood as she waited impatiently for the door to open.

When it eventually did, she all but tumbled inside, gripping the arms of the woman in the doorway. "You have to help me!" she cried. "Please! It's Elphaba!"

The woman – Calinne, Galinda knew, Fiyero's grandmother – instantly looked worried. "What about Elphaba?"

"We tried to escape last night, only Madame Morrible caught Elphaba when she was trying to steal our savings from her office; and then she locked her in her room and now she set this man on her who is going to "punish" her, and I _can't_ just let him do that to her and please," Galinda took a deep breath, gasping a little, "please, help."

Another person suddenly brushed past her, fingers closing around her arm in passing and pulling her along. "Let's go!" the man said urgently, never stopping his movements, and Galinda could only gape and run at the same time as she followed this newcomer.

"Fiyero," she said, repeating his name a few times as if unable to believe it. "What... what are you doing here? How... I mean… you went back home!"

"I did," he agreed, hardly even out of breath despite the running. "And then I came back."

"For Elphie," Galinda realised. "Because you love her. Oh, Fiyero, she loves you, too – she was just a little scared, and then Morrible told her she had to get rid of you or she'd never let Lulu leave –"

"I know," Fiyero cut her off and Galinda slowed.

"You know?" she echoed, dumbfounded. "How?"

He tugged her along. "She told me."

"She told... what? Told you when?"

"A few days before I left," he said, only now starting to pant a little. "She was withdrawing and I kept asking her why. She told me in the end."

Galinda gaped at the prince. She'd urged Elphaba so many times to be honest with him and the green girl had constantly refused... yet she had told him in the end. "But you left!" Galinda protested. "I don't understand!"

Fiyero shook his head in frustration. "I'll explain later." They rounded the corner into the village and Fiyero stormed through the door of the brothel, ignoring the surprised noises the girls made. He flew up the stairs and down the hallway, breaking down Elphaba's door easily and hurtling inside with Galinda right on his heels. What they saw made them stop dead in their tracks.

A man was slumped against the wall next to the door, unconscious. Elphaba's arms were tied to the bed above her head and she was wiggling around on the bed in an attempt to get free. There was a bleeding gash on her cheek and it was horribly clear what the man's intent had been.

Fiyero dashed over to the bed, quickly untying the ropes and freeing Elphaba from them. He cradled her in his arms. "Are you all right?"

"Peachy," she croaked.

Fiyero hugged her gently to his chest. She closed her eyes for a moment, sagging against him as the erratic emotions from the past fifteen minutes or so left her.

"You came back," she murmured and he shook his head, chuckling a little.

"Obviously. For Oz's sake, Fae."

Galinda suddenly cried out and both their heads whipped around, only to find that the man had regained consciousness and pushed Galinda aside. He advanced on Elphaba again menacingly, the whip still in his hand. He raised it, ready to hit either Elphaba or Fiyero with it.

Before he could, though, the prince advanced on the man with a slightly exaggerated battle cry and punched him in the face. The man reeled for a moment and Fiyero managed to snatch the whip away from him, but he recovered quickly, starting to fight with his fists instead. Fiyero tried to take him, but the man was both taller and stronger than the Vinkun prince. Punches flew back and forth until Fiyero's fist flew into the other man's face with a satisfying _crack_. He stumbled back and Galinda stuck out her leg, sending the man tripping over it and falling to the floor; and then Elphaba was upon him, gripping his hair and slamming his head so hard into the floor that he instantly lost consciousness again.

"That's for hitting me with a whip," she told the limp body and pushed herself to her feet again, stumbling a little. Fiyero was right behind her, however, his arms coming around her; and she leaned back against his chest, exhaling slowly. It was over now.

"Elphie," Galinda said quietly. "Did he...?"

"No," said Elphaba quickly, feeling Fiyero's arms tightening around her at the implications of that question. "He was going to, but he didn't. Not yet."

Fiyero's voice was shaking a little when he said, "I don't even want to think about what could have happened."

Galinda shuddered.

Fiyero quickly used the rope to tie the man up securely and then they gave themselves a moment to calm down. Fiyero studied the cut on Elphaba's cheek. It didn't seem to be as bad as he had first thought it was – it was mostly superficial – but it still angered him to know that someone had slashed her face open with a _whip_ , of all things. He had to refrain from getting up to punch the unconscious man again. He could tell she'd have bruises later, and some more whiplashes had cut open her nightgown in some places, but thankfully it didn't look like any of those injuries would scar.

Elphaba, for her part, reached up to gently touch Fiyero's jaw, which was already starting to swell and discolour a little. He flinched away from her with a hiss and she shook her head sympathetically. "Does it hurt very badly?"

"I've been through worse," he replied, trying to make light of it, but she just raised an eyebrow at him.

"When?" she asked mockingly. "When you were growing up in a pretty palace with servants at your back and call? I'm sure you must've endured a lot of pain from those satin pillows you slept on every night and the beautiful girls you seduced."

He grimaced, then quickly neutralised his face, because grimacing hurt his jaw. "Touché," he admitted.

She chortled at him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I love you," she murmured. "You're ridiculous, but I love you."

He nuzzled her hair. "I love you, too."

Galinda was beaming at them from across the room. "You two are so cute!" she gushed, which made Elphaba sigh and cast her eyes heavenward. Fiyero just gave the blonde a goofy grin and then winced again when that, too, hurt his jaw.

Suddenly Elphaba asked, "Where's Morrible? She must have heard the commotion up here."

Fiyero's lips quirked up into a wry smile. "She's probably arguing with my father right now," he said, amused. "He was right on my and Galinda's heels, if I'm not mistaken."

"Your father?" Galinda queried, baffled. "I didn't even notice him. He's in Reins, too? What _has_ been going on? I thought you, Elphie, had broken things off with him and he'd returned to the Vinkus... but then you, Fiyero, just told me that you knew about Morrible's threats, and... I don't understand," she declared.

Elphaba smiled faintly and opened her mouth to explain, but Fiyero cut her off before she could. "We'll explain that later," he told Galinda. "Right now, I think I should go help my father and inform him about the man lying up here." He glanced at the unconscious guy for a moment.

"Good idea," Elphaba agreed and she couldn't help the warm feeling that spread through her when Fiyero tightened his arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to her hair, gently guiding her over to the door with Galinda trailing close behind them. He was here, he still loved her, and he wasn't going to let Morrible take control of her life again. It was all over now.

* * *

Fiyero and King Hamold explained everything to the girls once they were sitting in the living room of Kevon and Calinne's farm house together, a couple of hours later. The man Morrible had brought in had been apprehended by the royal Vinkun guard and Morrible had been forced to change her policies. She'd spluttered against Hamold at first, insisting she was well within her rights to punish one of her girls for being disobedient; but the king had then pushed a paper under her nose.

"We wrote a new law," Fiyero explained proudly. He was sitting on the couch with Elphaba leaning against him, her head on his shoulder and a blanket covering her. "That's what I've been doing in the Vinkus after I left. It was Grandma's idea," he admitted. "We talked about it a bit when I was still staying here and I talked about it with Mum, too, while she was here. I already told her the full story about you, Fae – and about Morrible and the brothel, about the stories I've heard about the girls working there – a while ago and she'd decided that she agreed with me and something had to change. She wrote to Dad and he agreed as well. We wanted to improve the situation of the poor in the Vinkus. We've been in council meetings almost every day for the past weeks, convincing the council members of our case, and we eventually succeeded."

"Many things will still need to change," Hamold took over, "but the basis is there now. As for young girls like yourselves," he smiled at Elphaba and Galinda, "we cannot prohibit the existence of brothels entirely, but we can manage them. From now on, all brothels in the Vinkus have to be checked and approved by a representative of the royal family on a regular basis to prevent young girls from having to live in prostitution out of poverty again. On top of that, we're going to make sure more money goes to orphanages and we'll try to improve those as well so that even children without parents can feel like they have a home. I won't bore you with all the details now, but if you want, Elphaba, you can read the proposition when you get back to Adurin Iir with us. Fiyero already told me how smart you are, so you're probably interested in that."

"Adurin Iir?" Elphaba repeated quietly and Fiyero squeezed her closer.

"You're coming home with me," he told her. He looked at Galinda. "You, too, if you want," he offered. "We could even track down Lulu and have her live in the castle with us." Upon noticing his father's raised eyebrows, he said defensively, "Dad, it's a _huge_ castle and we have more room than we know what to do with. You always said I could invite any friends I'd like, remember?"

Hamold nodded and laughed, shaking his head. "Sure, Fiyero. Don't worry," he assured Elphaba and Galinda. "You're both more than welcome at the castle – and your friend Lulu, too."

"Thank you so much, Your Majesty," Galinda gushed, sounding genuinely relieved and grateful.

"Yes," Elphaba said, looking at the king, then up at Fiyero, and then at Hamold again. She could hardly believe everything she was hearing; it was a lot to take in. "Thank you."

Hamold smiled at her. "Fiyero actually wrote the proposition himself," he said. "You really have been a good influence on him, Elphaba."

The green girl looked up at Fiyero, who felt a little uncomfortable; but the pride in her eyes melted his discomfort away. He smiled a little sheepishly at her and she smiled back.

"Now you, Elphie," Galinda said, glaring at her friend. "Tell me everything you and Fiyero thought out before he left."

Elphaba sighed wearily, but obediently told her friend.

"At first I thought I didn't have a choice – that I had to make him leave," she said. "Then, however, I spent a lot of time thinking about what you and Lulu, and Fiyero himself, said – that he loves me, and he's serious about our relationship... I had a hard time believing that," she admitted. "But when I tried to push him away, he kept asking me what was wrong. He was just so... so hurt and sad, and I couldn't do it." She glanced up at him. He squeezed her closer and dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

"So then she told me," he took over, "about the threats Morrible had made if Fae wouldn't make me leave Reins. I promised Elphaba that I would leave with my mum, so that Morrible would agree to let Lulu pay off her debts and leave." He softly ran his hand over Elphaba's hair. Her eyelids were drooping a little and she looked like she was about to nod off against his shoulder, but she stubbornly blinked and stayed awake despite her exhaustion.

"I also promised her, however," Fiyero went on, "that I would come back for her – and you, Galinda – once Lulu was safe. Elphaba already told me by then about her plan to escape the place with you by stealing the money, so I told her to go to my grandparents' house if you two succeeded and stay there until I got back."

"Only I wasn't sure he actually would come back," Elphaba confessed, flushing a little. "I mean..."

"You were still convinced he'd change his mind," Galinda filled in knowingly.

"Realise what kind of 'mistake' I made by falling in love with you once I was away from you for a little while," Fiyero added wryly. "Are we right?"

Elphaba's cheeks darkened even further. "Yes," she mumbled.

Fiyero shook his head at her and nuzzled her hair, heaving a sigh. "We'll just continue working on that a bit longer," he told her, his breath tickling her hair.

She huffed a laugh. "At this pace, those tiny steps of yours will be going on for another ten years or something before we're finally where you want us to be."

"That's all right," he murmured. "I'm in no rush."

Galinda sighed happily, clasping her hands together. "You two are so _adorable_."

"Then, like I said, there were a lot of council meetings," Fiyero went on, ignoring the blonde, "and once it was done, Dad decided to come back here with me, along with some of his guards, to enforce the new law."

"And you got back just in time." Galinda squealed softly. "That is so romantic!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes. Fiyero just grinned.

Galinda furrowed her brow a little. "Wait," she said. "What about that time I heard you two fight? The night Fiyero left _The Fish's Lair_ and Elphaba was all upset?"

Elphaba grimaced slightly. "We, um… we faked that," she confessed. "We figured we had to make it convincing for everyone, so we pretended to fight and he left."

Galinda was shocked. "I thought you'd really argued and ended it!" she protested. "You seemed so upset!"

"I'm sorry," said Elphaba, biting her lip. "I didn't mean to lie to you, but I… well, like I said, I wasn't convinced Fiyero would actually return and I didn't want to take any risks. I figured it'd be safer if no-one knew the truth."

Galinda had to admit she could see where her friend was coming from. "It was convincing, though."

Elphaba yawned and Fiyero stroked her arm as they all sat in silence for a while, mulling things over. After a while, Calinne got to her feet. "Well," she said. "I'll go and make some lunch. I'm sure you could all use a bite to eat."

"I could," Kevon said eagerly. Hamold looked decidedly happy at the prospect of food and Galinda giggled.

"Men," she said.

Fiyero smirked at her. "That's exactly what Fae said the last time food was mentioned in my and Grandpa's presence."

The blonde giggled again and Calinne said pointedly, "Fiyero."

He glanced up at her.

"You might want to let Elphaba rest for a little while now."

He looked down at the green girl, only to find that she had finally drifted off against his side. He grinned at his grandmother. "I'll take her to the guest room."

He carried her to the room he himself had stayed in last time and tucked her into the bed, sitting beside her for a while. She turned and snuggled into the pillows and blankets with a small noise of contentment, but she didn't wake up. Fiyero smiled as he watched her, his smile turning a little impish when he remembered the last time they had been in this bed together. With a bit of luck, he thought, he'd share a bed with her for many more nights to come.

Of course he still had to convince her to marry him first. He sighed in defeat as he thought of that task lying before him. It wasn't going to be an easy feat. Then he looked at her sleeping face, though, and his resolve hardened. No matter how long it took, he'd do it, because she was worth it in the end.

* * *

 **Three more chapters to go now. The good news is that I don't think there'll be a hiatus after this fic; I have an ALAYM three-shot almost finished and I'm pretty far on _To Protect and Serve_ , so I should be able to continue posting every two days straight away!**


	18. The Castle's Sanctuary

**There won't be any more big things happening in the upcoming chapters, but I felt like the girls' story wasn't entirely finished yet; their lives have changed so much now and they'll need to get used to that. Also, I felt like Fiyero and Elphaba still had a few steps left to take in their relationship.**

 **Guest: I get what you mean - I do. I like being relatively realistic in my fanfics, but... well, I'm just a cheesy Fiyeraba sucker who has a hard time doing things to any of Wicked's main characters that will have some kind of permanent effect on them. Emotionally traumatising Elphaba that way, after everything I already put her through in this story, just seemed too cruel (which I know is ironic, coming from me, but true). I'm glad it's not off-putting enough for you to stop reading, though!**

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 **18\. The Castle's Sanctuary**

Elphaba would have loved to see Morrible's brothel – along with preferably every other brothel in the Vinkus – forcibly closed; but unfortunately, that was not the case. Morrible seemed to know what was good for her and so instead of fighting the king and queen's new policy regarding businesses like hers, she played along, complying with the rules in order to keep her business and her profits. Elphaba and Galinda were both horrified to learn that most of the girls decided to stay at _The Hidden Depths_ , even though they were able to leave whenever they wanted now. Only Shenshen and Falin did leave, however.

Even so, Elphaba was happy and grateful that Fiyero had convinced his parents to do this – and that they had convinced the council. Life would be a lot easier for girls like herself now and it was a great relief to know that at least in the Vinkus, young orphaned girls would be given more options from now on than to go into prostitution in order to stay alive. Fiyero had told her proudly that she had done what she had always dreamt of doing: something important, something to make Oz a better place. She'd disagreed, insisting it was all his doing, but he reminded here that it never would have happened if it hadn't been for her and she'd reluctantly accepted that.

On top of everything, she was staying in an actual castle now – along with Galinda, who couldn't stop squealing and gasping at the brilliance and extravagance of it all; and Lulu, whom the king and queen had sent for and who had instantly left the mauntery she'd been staying at and travelled to Adurin Iir. The girl had a room for herself in the castle now, right next to Galinda's, and the royal family's own doctor had examined her and was keeping an eye on her and her unborn child. Galinda had been shocked to learn about Lulu's pregnancy, but she, like everyone else in the castle, kept a close eye on the younger girl and helped her with everything she needed.

With her two friends in separate rooms just down the hall, Elphaba felt a little like they were still at Madame Morrible's – in the good sense of the word. The familiarity of it made her feel more at ease and she knew that went for Galinda and Lulu as well. None of them were used to living like this and any semblance of their old lives, no matter how terrible those lives had been, was welcome now. It made them feel more grounded and less like everything was spinning out of control.

Lulu confessed after about a week of staying in the castle that she felt distinctly out of place there. "Don't get me wrong," she hastened to say. "I think Fiyero and his parents are wonderful for allowing us to stay here, and I'm so grateful, but... I feel like someone made a mistake and brought me here instead of someone else. Like I'm living someone else's fairy-tale."

The corners of Elphaba's mouth turned up at that. "Tell me about it."

Galinda giggled. "It's probably even worse for you, Elphie. You're actually in love with the prince – you might get to _live_ here someday!"

That thought still caused panic to instantly squeeze Elphaba's chest shut, so she refused to acknowledge it. "Not very likely."

"I get what you mean, though," the blonde continued. Even Galinda, who loved pretty things and was ecstatic to be here and experience all this luxury, had to get used to it. "But we'll be fine. We have money now – we can build our own lives!"

"How?" Lulu asked, sounding a little lost. "How do we even go about that?"

Elphaba shook her head. They were a sad group together, she thought, looking at her two friends. All three of them had been so busy surviving all their lives that they didn't know what it was like to be really _living_. "One step at a time, I guess." That reminded her of what Fiyero kept saying to her and she inadvertently smiled at the thought. He was so sweet and he was trying so hard. She wished she was able to give him what he wanted... she was just still mostly convinced that what he said he wanted wasn't _actually_ what he wanted – or if it was, that it wasn't what he needed or what was good for him. _She_ wasn't good for him. They were still together and she regularly spent the night in his room – or he in hers – but emotionally, she still had a hard time opening up to him.

"Here's the plan," said Galinda, taking charge. "We all stay here until after Lulu's baby is born. Right?"

"Right," Elphaba agreed. "There's no way we're leaving you before the baby is born."

Galinda made a show of coughing and muttering under her breath, "There's no way you'll be leaving here at all."

Elphaba narrowed her eyes at her friend. Galinda looked back innocently.

"What?"

The green girl menacingly pointed at Galinda. "You know what, missy."

"Anyway," Galinda continued with a toss of her hair and an innocent smile in Elphaba's direction, "we'll be here for a couple of months at least, and then… then we can do whatever we want. We could – Oz, we could go to university, study something, or… or get a job – a real job, as a waitress or in a store. We could travel to the Emerald City to see everything there. Go on dates." She giggled almost maniacally, the excitement of the idea of being able to do whatever she liked making her feel dizzy and light-headed. "We could do anything!"

"I'll have a baby to care for, though," Lulu reminded her.

Galinda waved her hand dismissively. "It'll be fine! We'll help you raise her, don't worry!"

"Her?" Lulu echoed dubiously and Galinda nodded.

"Well, of course. I'll need it to be a girl so I can buy her all kinds of pink and girly things! Oh, I can buy things for you baby now!" she exulted, dancing around the room. "I can actually use my own money to buy things! What kind of job do you think would suit me? Maybe I could work in a dress salon, or a make-up store… I could go study something to do with fashion and beauty!"

"I could see you doing that," Lulu confessed.

Elphaba shook her head. "Am I the only one whose head is spinning right now?"

"No," said Galinda, stopping her dance to look at her friend. "Of course not. But there's no need to worry now. Not for another while yet. I think we deserve a break, don't you?"

She did think that. She thought about Galinda's words as she left her friends to wander the castle, unsure of where to go – unsure that even if she did know where to go, she'd be able to find her way there. She eventually found herself in a sitting room with a burning fire in the fireplace. Only once she approached, feeling cold after her excursions through the chilly castle in her thin dress, did she notice the person sitting on the couch before the fire and she jumped.

"Fiyero!" She put a hand to her heart. "I didn't see you there."

He smiled, but he looked a little sad for some reason. "Hey, Fae."

She frowned and sat down beside him. "What's wrong?" She squinted and studied the bruise on his jaw, which seemed to be multiple shades of blue, black, and purple now. "Does that still hurt?"

"It's nothing," he brushed her off, even though she knew it had to be painful. He cupped her face with one hand and softly traced her cheekbone with his thumb, running it over the spot where the cut from the whip had been. It was mostly healed by now – better than his bruised jaw, anyway. "What about you?"

She shook her head only slightly, not wanting to lose the touch of his fingers on her skin, but Fiyero pulled away anyway. He seemed anguished for some reason and she shifted, nervously tucking an ebony curl behind her ear.

"What's wrong?" she asked again, mentally bracing herself for his answer. In her mind, it could never be anything good.

He heaved a deep sigh. "I, um… I overheard you talking," he confessed. "In Lulu's room. I wasn't eavesdropping, I swear – I wanted to check up on her to see how she was doing, with the baby and all, but then I realised you and Galinda were both in there with her, and… well, I heard some things. Not everything. Just… a little."

"What?" she prompted and he sighed again. Then he turned to face her.

"Look," he said with a forced smile that was probably meant to be reassuring, but just looked pained. "I know… I know I've always been in this more than you have. Which is something that was quite impossible for me to imagine before, what with my previous… philosophy, I guess you could say… but it's true. I wanted to deny the way I felt about you, you know that, but I just couldn't. You turned my whole life upside down, Elphaba, and I guess I can only be grateful for that because I know it changed me for the better." He took a deep breath. "But… but I don't want to pressure you into anything you don't want."

She looked confused.

He pressed on. "I feel like every step in our relationship so far has come from me. And I don't blame you for that," he hastened to assure her. "I understand why, too – or I thought I did, anyway. Now, I just… can't help but wonder if this really is what you want. If _I_ am really what you want."

She recoiled slightly, frowning. "Why would you doubt that? What did you overhear?"

He shrugged helplessly. "Galinda was teasing you about getting to live here at the castle someday, and all you said was 'not very likely'. And I know the idea of marriage, or any kind of long-term relationship, scares you, but… I don't feel like I've really given you a choice in all this." He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, not looking at her.

"Of course you did," she said fiercely, making him glance at her cautiously again. "And besides, I _did_ initiate some steps in our relationship. Remember that night at your grandparents' house?"

A mischievous twinkle appeared in his sapphire blue eyes. "Of course."

She blushed, but sobered quickly, biting her lip. She sighed and leaned against the back of the couch. "You know where I come from, Yero, and you've been so patient and understanding throughout all of this, but… well, I still can't fathom the idea of you actually wanting to be with me. You're trying to convince me and you have no idea how much I appreciate that, but I think you're making a mistake. I'm not good for you. I never will be. And I don't think I could bear you realising that one day and resenting me for it."

He looked shocked. "What?" He took her hands in his, squeezing them. "Fae… I could never resent you," he promised her. "Ever. If this doesn't work out, at least we'll have tried. We have nothing to lose," he pleaded with her. "We only have a lot to gain. Please, Elphaba, just give me a chance."

"I am," she said honestly. "But I can't promise you I won't still have doubts, or even that I won't run away. This whole thing terrifies me, Yero, and you know I don't get scared easily. I _should_ run away, but I can't – I couldn't before and I can't now – and that scares me more than anything, because it means you're wrong. I have so much to lose if this doesn't work out. I have _you_ to lose. You wormed your way into my heart somehow and now you refuse to go away, but this is all new to me and I don't know how to deal with it. I just… I need more time."

"I'll give you all the time in the world," he told her. "I will. I won't push you into anything, anything at all. If you never want to get married, that's fine, too."

She raised an eyebrow at him pointedly. "No, it's not. You need a wife, Fiyero, and you need an heir."

He sighed. "Fine, but we're in no rush. This isn't about the Vinkus or about my parents. It's about us, about you and me. I love you, Fae. And if you don't love me, or not enough to try to make this work – if you don't want this, for some reason… then please tell me now, because the longer we're in this, the more it will hurt."

She looked at him, studying those bright blue eyes of his. She saw hope there, and anxiety, and love, and she just couldn't imagine how he could feel this way about her. He was genuinely afraid of her answer, she realised. This really did matter to him – even more than he was letting on. He loved her. He wanted a life with her. And she wasn't sure she could give him that, but Oz dammit – she loved him, too, this silly, handsome, brilliant, amazing man, and hadn't she always prided herself on her way of facing her fears rather than running away from them?

"I do," she whispered, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again to meet his gaze. "I do, Yero. I do want this and I do love you. More than I've ever loved anyone else."

The hope in his eyes was so real, so overwhelming, that it broke her heart. "Really?"

She nodded and he actually sagged with relief, drawing her into his arms and clutching her to his chest as if he was afraid she'd vanish if he let go. She hadn't realised how deep these doubts had gone for him and how badly they had affected him. Even though he'd shown and proven it to her time after time, she still hadn't fully realised how much he cared.

"I love you," he breathed into her hair, his voice choked. "I love you, Fae, I love you so much. We'll make this work, I promise. One way or another, we'll figure it out. Thank Oz… I don't think I could bear it if you'd said no." He chuckled weakly and then pulled away to look at her. "You're the first girl I've ever loved, too, you know," he reminded her. "This is just as new to me as it is to you, and it scares me… well, maybe not just as much as it scares you, but a lot nonetheless. I'm terrified to mess this up, but you've managed to crack open that armour of pretence I had around myself and I really don't know what I would do if you walked away now."

She laughed softly. "We're actually two peas in a pod, aren't we?"

He smiled, stroking her hair away from her face and kissing her lips. "We are. But maybe that's why we go so well together."

It was strange, he mused, how much he had inadvertently come to depend on her and on their relationship. What he had just told her was true. He _was_ scared, because he had never felt anything like this for anyone before. He was afraid to ruin it, but he was also afraid of the thing itself – of the things he felt for her and how powerful they were, of the whole concept of love and being in love and how much power she held over him without even knowing it. One touch or kiss from her turned him into a mushy puddle. When she smiled – that genuine, dimpled smile he loved so much – it felt like the sun was coming out. If she walked away from him now, he would be absolutely devastated.

 _And if she could read your mind right now, she'd_ definitely _walk away, shuddering at all the cheesiness,_ he mentally scolded himself.

It was true, though. She had him in the palm of her hand and yet she had no idea.

He reached out to pull her deeper into his arms, settling her in his lap and slowly, tenderly running his fingers through her raven curls. She shivered a little, her eyelids fluttering shut, and he couldn't help but smile. Maybe, he thought, however impossible that seemed, he affected her just as much as she affected him.

She slipped her arms around his neck and curled around him, nestling her head under his chin so she could listen to the sound of his heartbeat; and he held her, content to keep doing just that for the rest of his life.

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 **Feel free to send me a review! (Or a dentist bill because your teeth cracked from all the fluffy sweetness. I won't promise I'll pay it, though, since I technically don't have a job anymore after this weekend.)**


	19. The Baby's Arrival

**19\. The Baby's Arrival**

The three girls got used to life in a castle surprisingly easily over the next few months, despite their initial worries. Queen Elora provided them with money to go shopping for new clothes and anything else they needed, since the girls only owned some old and worn outfits and a couple of necessary toiletries. Galinda, of course, loved this and thanked the queen a thousand times before dragging Elphaba and Lulu along to go shopping in a town near Adurin Iir. Returning with shopping bags filled with dresses, skirts, blouses, shoes, and even some accessories and jewellery – which none of them had ever owned before – the blonde was positively beaming. She strutted around the castle for the next few days like a princess, proudly showing off her new clothes.

Lulu was glad for the shopping money, too, since her stomach had by now reached the point where it no longer fit in her regular clothing. Even Elphaba had to admit it was nice to get something new. She couldn't stop stroking the soft fabric of the thick cardigan she'd bought to replace her old one; it had been a long time since she'd owned any piece of clothing this warm.

The Tiggular family, for their part, were glad to see the girls so happy. Lori was especially concerned with Lulu, trying to guide her through the pregnancy and help and support her in every way, just like they were all doing. Lulu could often be found sitting somewhere with a book, usually on pregnancy or motherhood, but also sometimes on different topics. Elphaba was all too happy to join her and the two could sit together reading for hours. The green girl was drinking in every bit of information she could find on any kind of topic she was interested in, ranging from economics and politics to law and life sciences. She devoured fictional stories, too – anything she could get her hands on; and given the large collection of books on a wide range of topics available at Adurin Iir, she had plenty of choice. Now that she had the chance, she was determined to educate herself as much as she could.

In contrast, Galinda spent most of her time trying to brush up on her etiquette and socialising with everyone, from the servants and the town people to the occasional guests visiting the castle. A handsome man working at a store in town where they had gone shopping had caught her eye and she returned to that store a few times to flirt with him, fixing herself a date not long thereafter.

If Elphaba were to be completely honest with herself, she'd admit that she was a little jealous of how easily the blonde seemed to move on from everything she had been through in that respect. Of course she knew Galinda had been affected by it all just as much as any of them had, but she envied her friend's ability to remain positive and keep her head up. Elphaba had always tried to be like that, but she was a natural pessimist and it was hard for her to look at the bright side of things instead of worrying about everything that could possibly go wrong.

She tried, though. She tried to relax around Fiyero and to keep her fears about their relationship at bay. It was hard for her, but Fiyero's endless patience and attempts at understanding helped her a lot. She could tell that he felt mildly frustrated sometimes when his attempts at getting closer to her failed and that he wished things would move faster. She didn't blame him for that. However, she also knew that he was sincere. She saw it in his eyes every time he looked at her and that, maybe more than anything, convinced her of his true motives regarding her and put her at ease a little. The awed look on his face when she'd come down to dinner one night, wearing one of the dresses Galinda had forced her to buy, had been enough to make her blush and lower her gaze.

They spent a lot of time together; sometimes he joined her and Lulu when they were reading, but the girls also had dinner with the royal family almost every day – unless there were important guests visiting the king and queen – and Fiyero often sought Elphaba out to go for a walk or do something else together. One night, he led her to his room and taught her how to dance. When she'd laughingly asked him why he would bother, he merely grinned and said, "For future reference." She knew what that meant, of course, but she hadn't replied to that remark.

The truth was that the idea of a future with him still scared her, albeit less so than before. She was fairly certain that in time, he might actually succeed in convincing her to stay here and have a life with him, which maybe scared her even more. He mattered so much to her and she hated disappointing him, but sometimes it felt like that was exactly what she was doing by not agreeing to marry him, even though he told her he understood and didn't blame her for it.

"I keep thinking she's come such a long way from where she was," Fiyero said to his father one evening when they were going over some papers together in one of the sitting rooms. "All of them have. But then one of them says something or does something to remind me that despite the fact that they're safe now, they still don't _feel_ safe."

"Like what?" Hamold asked him.

Fiyero slumped in his chair. "The way all the blood leaves Lulu's face and that wide-eyed look of dread she gets whenever a man she doesn't know approaches her too closely, even if it's only a servant," he said. "The fact that Fae's first response to a knock on her bedroom door is still to jump and then sit up straight and smooth out her hair and clothes as if she's expecting a customer. Even Galinda – she's been on a few dates with some man she met during her shopping trip in town, and Elphaba thought there may be something growing there, but Galinda ended it. Fae strongly suspects it's because Galinda got cold feet. None of them really know how to trust anyone." He ran his hand over his face, closing his eyes for a moment. "How did we let this happen, Dad? In our province, right under our noses? How many more people like them are out there, still suffering every day?"

"A lot," Hamold told his son honestly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But we're working on it. You must understand, Fiyero, that the rulers of a country can never fix everything. They can't even _know_ everything. Your mother and I have always done the best we could to be good rulers to the Vinkun people, but it's an illusion to think you'll be able to make everything right and make all your people happy. All you can do is try your hardest and sometimes that's not enough."

Fiyero nodded miserably. "I guess."

"You brought this matter to our attention now," Hamold continued, "and thus we were able to try to find a way to change it. Once you're king, there will be matters brought to your attention every day and it will be up to you to decide what to do with them. Sometimes such matters will horrify you and you'll want to do everything you can to make them right, but you won't be able to. Sometimes you'll think something fairly irrelevant and ignore it and it might come back to bite you later. Even when such things happen, you shouldn't blame yourself for them. You're only human, Yero. I think by now I can safely say that I think you will make a great king," he smiled at his son and Fiyero smiled back half-heartedly, "and I'm certain that Elphaba would be a wonderful queen; but even between the two of you to care for the Vinkus, there will be things you cannot change and people you cannot save."

There was a knock on the open door and Fiyero looked up to find Lulu there, her baby bump protruding in front of her. "Hamold?" she asked. After well over two months at Adurin Iir, the king and queen had finally convinced all three girls to call them by their first names instead of their titles. "Lori is looking for you. Last time I saw her, she was in the parlour on the second floor."

Hamold thanked her and left the room in search of his wife. Lulu glanced at Fiyero, who gave her an encouraging smile and motioned for her to come in and sit down.

"How are you?" he asked once she was sitting on the couch across from him.

She lightly touched her abdomen, as she often did these days. "Fine," she said. "Both of us. I mean, I occasionally get morning sickness, I feel bloated and fat, and my back aches all the time," she laughed ruefully, "but I can live with that. It could be so much worse."

"And emotionally?" Fiyero asked knowingly and she paused to consider that question.

"I'm better than I have been in a long time," she said honestly. "It's still hard for me to accept the idea that I'm safe now... I can't really remember ever feeling safe before. Sometimes it still feels like I'm dreaming and all of this isn't really happening. Sometimes I'm afraid I'll wake up at Morrible's brothel again, about to have my baby taken from me and to be used for another seven years by men looking for pleasure..." A shudder tore through her, but she shook it off and sighed heavily."I don't think we could ever thank you and your parents enough for what you've done for us, Fiyero."

He shook his head. "There's no need for that," he told her. "I just hope... do you think you'll ever be able to live a normal life, Lulu? To trust people and not be scared of what might happen all the time?"

She smiled faintly. "Yes," she said. "Someday – yes. I do think I still have a long way to go, but I'll get there. Galinda will, too." She cast a mischievous look in his direction. "And Elphaba."

He flushed a little.

"She's less like Galinda and more like me in that she worries about everything," Lulu continued. "She, like me, has never had a reason to feel safe before, or to trust, or to love. She's already so much further with that than I think I would have been if I'd been in her shoes and that's thanks to your influence. I'm not blind, Fiyero. I can see what's going on between you two and I don't want to get involved in things that are none of my business, but she's my friend and I want her to be happy. I just need to ask you to be patient with her. She needs time, and lots of it, to heal and to start over. Just like we all do."

Fiyero recalled that Elphaba had said the same thing a while ago, about needing time, and he nodded. "Thanks, Lulu."

"You're welcome." She hoisted herself to her feet. "Would you please excuse me? I need to use the bathroom _again_ and then I think I should probably lie down. The baby is doing something weird inside of me and it's _very_ uncomfortable."

He laughed. "Of course. Do you want me to walk you to your room?" he offered, but she shook her head.

"I've got it," she said. "Thank you."

She waddled away and he watched her go, lost in thought over the conversation they'd just had. He eventually rose to his feet and left the room as well, intending to go in search of Elphaba and see what she was up to; but in the hallway just around the corner from the sitting room he'd occupied, he found Lulu leaning against the wall with a strange expression on her face.

"Lulu?" he asked, alarmed. "Are you all right?"

"I... I think so." She looked pale, however, and scared. "I think... I think I had a contraction. Or something. I don't know – I don't know what they're supposed to feel like, but I have a feeling... I think it's started, Fiyero," she said, her voice small and her hands shaking. "I don't know what to do."

"I'll go get Mum and call for the midwife," Fiyero promised, but she grabbed his arm.

"No!" she cried. "Don't leave me alone!"

Of course. Stupid idea. Fiyero thought quickly. "Can you make it to your room, Lulu?"

She gritted her teeth. "I think so."

He nodded. "All right, then that's where we'll go. You've read about this, haven't you? Do you think it will be happening soon?"

"No." She shook her head. "The contractions are still a while apart."

"That's good. Here, lean on me." He supported her with his arm around her waist, holding her hand tightly in his; and together, painstakingly slowly, they made their way to the hallway where the girls' rooms were. He helped Lulu into her bed. "Now wait here for just a clock-tick. I'll be right back," he promised her, dashing out of the room. He poked his head around the doorway to Galinda's room, relieved to find the blonde there. "Galinda! Can you please go find my mother and call for the midwife?" he asked pleadingly.

Her eyes widened and she leapt to her feet. "Lulu?"

He nodded. "She's in labour."

Galinda instantly left the room and ran down the hallway. Fiyero glanced into Elphaba's room. "Fae?"

She looked up from the book she was reading, already in her nightgown – something far more modest than the one she'd owned at Madame Morrible's, but it still made her look beautiful – and he said, "Lulu is having her baby."

Without asking any questions, she put down her book before following him out of the room and into Lulu's. The girl was still in her bed, looking less frantic than Fiyero had expected, and Elphaba crawled onto the bed with her and sat behind her so she could fiddle with Lulu's hair, knowing that always calmed her down. "How are you feeling?" she asked calmly.

"Strange," Lulu admitted. "Scared. Excited. Ow!" She gasped at a contraction and Elphaba stroked her hair soothingly. "In pain," Lulu added through gritted teeth.

Elphaba laughed softly and continued to play with the younger girl's hair. "You'll be fine, you know. Is there anything we can do for you until Lori and the midwife get here?"

Lulu shook her head. "Just stay here," she pleaded quietly. "Please."

"Of course, silly. We're not going anywhere." Elphaba looked at Fiyero, who was feeling decidedly uncomfortable and a bit like he was intruding on a private moment.

"Do you want me to stay, too?" he asked uncertainly and Lulu nodded, closing her eyes.

"Please."

Elphaba smiled encouragingly at him and he took a deep breath, nodding. "Okay." He had no idea why Lulu would want him here, but he felt like it was the least he could do to help her... even though it looked like this was going to take another long while yet.


	20. The Wounds' Healing

**So I accidentally spoilered a bit of this chapter on Twitter because I thought I'd already posted it. Oops. Well, here you go, anyway, haha. Tying up some more loose ends and working towards the final epilogue-ish chapter!**

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 **20\. The Wounds' Healing**

Approximately seventeen hours and twenty minutes later, Fiyero found himself cradling a tiny human being, bundled up in soft blankets, to his chest. Lulu, exhausted after giving birth, had fallen asleep at last. Of course she had gotten to hold her son first, but then she had insisted on Fiyero holding him for a moment, since she claimed the prince was part of the reason her baby was born in a safe place – or born at all.

It was miraculous, Fiyero mused as he looked at the delicate features, that something so distinctly human could grow in a woman's body. Nature was an incredible thing. Feeling sentimental, he almost found himself growing jealous of women for being able to carry babies for nine months; but then he looked at Lulu's sleeping face, remembering the pain and discomfort he'd seen her in, and he quickly stopped that train of thought.

He looked up at Elphaba, who was sitting on Lulu's other side and was watching him with a strange expression on her face. He laughed softly. "What?"

She shook her head as if to clear it and gave him a small smile. "Nothing." But she kept looking at him, her expression almost wistful.

He carefully held out the baby. "Do you want to hold him?"

She looked startled, but then she thought about it for a moment and nodded. He rose to his feet and walked around the bed to reach her, gingerly placing Lulu's son in Elphaba's arms.

Just then, the baby opened his eyes, blinking up at her. She held her breath, afraid he would start crying or fussing, but he just looked at her and she slowly let out her breath again, her smile returning. "Hello," she murmured, gently touching his face with a single finger. He grasped it with his tiny fists and her smile widened, but Fiyero could see the sadness lying underneath.

"You'll have that someday, too, you know," he told her, knowing exactly what she was thinking.

She gave him another small, but radiant smile. "I know." She sighed. "It's just a strange idea that I could have had it in a couple of months already if..." She trailed off, but of course Fiyero knew what she had wanted to say. If Morrible hadn't made her end the pregnancy.

"But it was probably for the best," she continued quietly. "It wasn't my time yet and you're right. I'll get my chance." She looked down at the baby boy in her arms. The feelings washing over her were entirely new and she suddenly felt like crying, but it wasn't a bad kind of emotion. Sitting here like this, she could imagine having a baby of her own, being a mother... having a family.

Seeing Fiyero holding Lulu's son just now had almost been enough to make her blurt out that yes, she wanted to marry him. Seeing him like that, imagining him as a father, she couldn't imagine him as the father of anyone else's child but hers. She could see the wonder in his eyes, the love when he looked at her – the love she saw now as he watched her take her turn holding the baby – and she knew she probably looked the same way. She did love him. He had never given her any reason to doubt his love for her or his devotion to her; he'd never said or done anything to make her believe he wasn't serious about all this. She would always be scared, but maybe it was time for her to stop letting her fears rule her life. She'd always wanted a family and this was her chance. She could have one, if she wanted it badly enough to risk getting hurt for it.

The door opened and the midwife came in, smiling widely when she saw Elphaba sitting there with the baby. "Hello there! How is the little one doing?" she asked cheerfully, keeping her voice down for Lulu's sake.

Elphaba chuckled nervously. "Fine, as far as I can tell." She handed the baby over to the midwife, who quickly looked him over and nodded in satisfaction.

"I'll put him in the bassinet now so he can get some rest as well," she said, pausing for a moment. "Unless either of you wants to keep holding him?"

"No, thank you," Fiyero said, suppressing a yawn. "I think I might go and catch some sleep myself. We've been up all night, too, and I'm pretty tired."

"Good idea," the midwife said, still smiling. She nudged Elphaba with her elbow. "You should go and rest as well. Lulu and her baby are both fine now."

Elphaba nodded and allowed Fiyero to help her to her feet, not protesting when he kept his arm around her waist. Instead, she slipped her own arm around his waist as well, squeezing softly and laying her head against his shoulder.

"You okay?" Fiyero asked her in mild concern once they'd left the room.

She nodded against his shoulder. "Just realising what's really important in the world, I guess," she said with a small laugh. "Something like that puts everything else in perspective, doesn't it?"

"It does," he agreed.

She fell silent. When they reached the doorway to her room and he made to move away, she stopped him, holding his hand. "Wait."

He looked at her questioningly and she took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry for... for holding you off, and for not trusting you despite everything you've done for me. I'm sorry for being so difficult when you've been nothing but wonderful."

He was already shaking his head. "Stop," he told her. "You have nothing to apologise for, Fae. Nothing at all. Please don't do that."

She bit her lip, but she nodded. His reaction only strengthened her conviction. She had to do this. Now was the time. "I just... I really need you to know that it's not because of you," she said. "It was all because of me, and my own experiences in the past. You did nothing wrong. I hope you know that."

"What are you trying to say, Fae?" he asked her gently.

She didn't even know. She opened her mouth to reply, but she had no idea what she wanted to say. What eventually came out was, "I love you." She tried to blink away the stupid tears starting to fill her eyes. "And I don't want to be scared anymore. I _know_ I want all those things you want of me, too – I want to marry you, and I want a family and a future with you, and I think... I'm not ready, but I probably never will be. I think I'm as ready now as I'll ever be."

His eyes were wide as he tried to process her words. "Elphaba..." he breathed. "Are you saying...?"

"I'm not saying I want any of those things right now," she warned him. "I'm just saying I'll be open to them in the future. The not-too-distant future. I'm saying that if you were to propose, in a while, I... I'd say yes. And you probably know by now how hard this is for me, but I think that if I don't do this, I'll be trapped in my own past and fears forever and I told you so many times already that I wanted to break free of that."

Part of her couldn't believe she was doing this; but deep down, she knew it had been building for a long time already, probably since the day they had met. Every time she'd warned him, told him about her fears, or pushed him away, he had been nothing but understanding and patient and kind... and it had only caused her to fall even more deeply in love with him. This was what love was and after seeing Lulu giving birth to her baby today, after seeing Fiyero holding the tiny boy and holding him herself, seeing what was possible... she finally felt ready to take it.

Fiyero was still watching her intently, listening without interrupting her even once; and she took another deep, shaky breath. "To be as cheesy as you sometimes like to be... this is me giving you my heart, Fiyero. And I might regret it, because I'm still not one hundred percent sure you won't break it into a thousand tiny little pieces, but I see now that I won't ever – _can't_ ever – be sure of that. So I guess I'll just have to trust you and take a leap of faith."

She looked at him expectantly, but he had to take a moment to gather his bearings. Finally, he cupped her face in both his hands and rested his forehead against hers as he looked deep into her large, chocolate brown eyes, which were filled with insecurity, but also with love and determination. "I swear on everything I hold dear that I will never hurt you if I can help it," he promised her solemnly. "I'd rather die. I know how big this step is for you, Fae, and you have no idea how much it means to me that you've decided to trust me to this extent. I won't let you down."

She smiled slightly, blinking against the tears again. "I know."

He smiled, too, and traced the dimples in her cheeks with his fingertips before kissing her; and she allowed herself to get lost in his embrace.

* * *

It took them all a while to heal, emotionally, from everything they had been through in their lives. Sometimes Elphaba thought they might never fully heal at all. That was okay, though. The most important thing was that they were moving forward.

Upon awakening in Fiyero's arms the next morning, Elphaba felt at peace and she knew she had made the right decision. They talked a lot about everything in the days after that. Elphaba confessed her fear of what the Vinkun people might think about her marrying Fiyero, if it really came to that, and Fiyero took the matter to his parents.

"I know you don't like to hear it, Fiyero, but she's right," his mother told him. "You're not required to marry a princess, or even a girl of high status; but if word got out about her having worked at a brothel, it might pose a bit of a problem."

Fiyero crossed his arms. "I'm marrying her anyway," he declared stubbornly, which made Lori roll her eyes at him.

Hamold stifled a laugh. "I don't think that's what your mother was saying, son," he said in mild amusement. "We're not saying you can't marry Elphaba. We're just saying we need a story for her."

"You want to lie about where she came from?"

"Not lie, per se," Lori said, pursing her lips as she thought about the matter. "Stretch the truth a bit, yes. Where did you say her real family is from?"

"Munchkinland," Fiyero replied. "She's the eldest daughter of the governor, actually – Governor Frexspar Thropp? He always hated her because of her skin and that's why he brought her to the orphanage. He still lives in Munchkinland with Elphaba's younger sister, Nessarose."

"A governor's daughter would actually be a wonderful match in everyone's eyes," said Lori, her eyes lighting up. She frowned. "Although I don't like the implications of that. What a horrible man her father must be, to cast her aside like that – literally. Who could do that to his own child?" She perked up again. "Perhaps we could help Elphaba reclaim her title as heir to the governorship?" she suggested. "Do you think she would want that?"

Fiyero shook his head. "She's having a hard enough time coping with the idea of becoming a princess, Mum," he said wryly. "There's no way she'll want to become a governor, too. I'll ask her, but I think I can predict her answer."

He was right about that, too. Elphaba fervently declined Lori's suggestion, although she appreciated the sentiment behind it.

"I have no desire to become governor to a province I don't even know," she said. "Really. It's fine. Well, not fine, I guess, but I'm over what my father did to me. I've handled it in the best way I knew how and although I can't deny the fact that I hate him a bit for what he did, deep down, I don't want revenge on him or anything. Honestly, I'd prefer it if I never had to see him again."

"I can understand that," Lori assured her. "Still, we could use your true parentage in our advantage. We can simply present you to the people as the daughter of the Munchkinland governor and gloss over all the rest."

Elphaba bit her lip and Hamold asked her gently, "That doesn't sit right with you, does it?"

She sighed. "I don't know," she admitted. "It just... it feels wrong to pretend like I just grew up with my father in Munchkinland, you know? And I think the truth about it would come out sooner or later, somehow, and then things could get messy."

Fiyero put his arm around her shoulders and said, "How about we do present her as the governor's daughter, but also tell the people the truth about what he did?"

"Then we'd be presenting him as some sort of monster who gave his own daughter away," Lori pointed out. "And he is, don't get me wrong..."

"...but it would have all kinds of political implications for you as monarchs of the Vinkus," Elphaba filled in. "I understand. I wouldn't want you to do that."

"Why not?" Fiyero demanded hotly and Elphaba gave him a look.

"Because it might result in war between the Vinkus and Munchkinland," she pointed out to him, "and no matter what you might think, I'm not worth starting a war over."

He opened his mouth to protest, but Hamold cut in first. "She's right, son. That's regardless of how much you might love her or how fond we might be of her," he added, giving Elphaba a smile. "We're not just people and we're not just your parents – we're also the ruling monarchs of a province and we need to think and act as such."

Fiyero grumbled and Elphaba kissed his cheek. "I love you," she said, smiling when she saw the way his face softened at that. She was still amazed at the impact those three little words could have on him. "Your parents are right, though."

"I know," he said with a sigh and she laid her head against his shoulder and squeezed his hand consolingly.

"However," Hamold continued, "we could also portray the governor differently. Instead of painting him as a monster, we can always make the story that he was grief-stricken by the death of his wife and couldn't care for Elphaba by himself, which is why he brought her to the orphanage. We can keep the details fairly vague – Vinkuns are pretty private people, so they wouldn't know all the details about a story about the governor of Munchkinland from sixteen years ago. Then we wouldn't be lying, exactly, and we'd still be able to use Elphaba's father's position to our advantage, but without the implications it might have for our relationship with Munchkinland."

Lori nodded slowly. "That might work," she agreed. "Yero?"

"I guess," he said and then they all looked at Elphaba, who looked lost in thought.

Finally, she nodded as well. "I think that could work, too," she said. "But what about my history at the brothel? What if Morrible tells on me, or one of the other girls – or a client, for that matter?"

Lori and Hamold both grimaced, but Fiyero said smugly, "Well, it's not like the Vinkun people can change anything about it if we're already married."

They all stared at him.

"Excuse me – what?" Elphaba asked and he grinned at her, but his grin faded when he saw the mild panic on her face.

"I don't mean right now!" he hurried to reassure her. "Or anywhere in the near future, for that matter. It's like Dad said, Fae – the Vinkuns are pretty private people. We'll let them know I'm in a serious relationship with you, but it's not like they're going to be prying all that deeply into your personal life."

"They'll probably just fall to their knees to thank Oz that Fiyero has finally found himself a girl," Hamold muttered and they all laughed except for Fiyero, who glared at his father.

"Thanks, Dad," he said sarcastically. "I love you, too. Anyway," he continued to Elphaba, "once you and I have been together publicly for a while, we'll announce the engagement and get married shortly afterwards. _Then_ we'll tell the people more about you and once they know you're a governor's daughter and they get to know you a little as their new princess, they won't mind your history so much anymore."

"You hope," Hamold added and Fiyero scowled at him.

"I hope," he conceded. "But I'm pretty sure they won't. Especially not once they realise they're really going to need her to keep me in check or I'll plunge the entire province into chaos after all."

"You have a point there," Hamold said drily.

Fiyero put a hand over his heart. "Ouch."

Elphaba just rolled her eyes at him and he pouted. "One of you was supposed to say 'you'd be a great king by yourself, too, Yero, don't talk yourself down'."

"We could tell you, Yero," Hamold said to his son. "But then we would be lying, and didn't your mother and I always teach you to be truthful?"

"He's joking, Yero," Lori said, shooting her husband a look. "We're very proud of you, you know. You _did_ change, we know that, and we do believe you'd be a wonderful king even without Elphaba by your side."

"We just also think you'd be a better one _with_ Elphaba by your side," Hamold added helpfully and Lori gave him another look, but Fiyero just chuckled.

"I do, too," he said, grinning down at the green girl. She was blushing a little, but she did roll her eyes at him again.

"It's not a perfect solution," Lori said, thinking over Fiyero's suggestion. "Far from it. But you're right in that the Vinkuns aren't all that interested in Elphaba's background, anyway. If we introduce her straight away as an orphan who was forced to work as a prostitute, we'll definitely rub some people the wrong way, especially some high leaders and officials; but if she can first prove that she's a kind and intelligent young woman, by helping out with royal duties and appearing in public, the people won't care nearly as much."

"That's how we'll do it, then," Fiyero said proudly. He gave Elphaba a beaming smile. "So…" he said hopefully. "If you don't want to get married right now, when _would_ be a good time for me to ask you? Just so I have some idea, you know."

She merely gave him an exasperated look and didn't reply.


	21. The Girls' Freedom

**Here it is - the final chapter! After this, as said before, you can expect a drabble and a three-shot... and then I'll hopefully be able to start posting my next story, which will not be _To Protect and Serve_ after all, but _Fairest of Them All._**

* * *

 **21\. The Girls' Freedom**

All three girls ended up staying at Adurin Iir for quite a while longer after that. Lulu had to stay because she and her son had no place to go until she could find both a job and a way to juggle that job with motherhood, Galinda didn't want to leave by herself, and Elphaba… well, the green girl had no idea what she wanted to do now that she finally had options. She did want to stay with Fiyero, but there were so many other things she'd like to do. She'd debated trying to find a job as well, perhaps even go to university if she could – she'd love to learn something and she could still marry Fiyero afterwards, right? Then again, the prospect of studying at a university whilst simultaneously working to be able to pay for that study for another three years didn't seem very appealing to her, especially not since that meant leaving Fiyero for that period of time. She just… didn't know.

At some point, Elphaba suggested to Galinda to try and get back her family's things that were rightfully hers – the house and the money, mainly.

"Your aunt did steal from you, after all," the green girl reminded her friend. "She had no right to claim everything as her own. Now is your chance to take it all back, especially if Lori, Hamold, or Fiyero were to help you."

Galinda paused in the middle of running a hairbrush through her curls. "I hadn't even thought of that," she said in wonder. "I've been wondering about what to do next."

"We all have," Elphaba told her. "But I know what _you_ should do. Reclaim your inheritance – you told me how rich your parents used to be, Glin. You'd never have to worry about money again. And when that's done," she added, "you should go back to that handsome guy in the village and try to talk things out with him."

Galinda stared at the other girl.

Elphaba chuckled. "Don't look at me like that. I know you liked him, Glin," she said, sobering. "And I know why you broke things off with him – you were scared. We all are," she admitted. "But you told me how much you liked him and how kind he was to you… I think you should give it a chance. We all need to learn how to trust people again and I think that would be a great start for you, if nothing else."

"Just like Fiyero is a great start for you?" Galinda asked innocently. "Or is he also going to be the ending? The _happy_ ending," she added, giggling as Elphaba tossed a cushion in her direction.

Not much later, Galinda did indeed discuss the matter with Lori; and although it took a while for everything to be arranged, the queen came to find Galinda a month or so later to inform her happily that everything was taken care of. Her aunt had been apprehended for maltreatment and theft and the house and money were Galinda's again. Lori also offered the blonde a chance to see her aunt, but Galinda declined. She had no desire to relive that part of her childhood. It was behind her now; all that mattered was that she had her parents' things again and she instantly ordered Lulu and her baby to move in with her.

"It's a big house," she explained. "I'd get lonely. And besides, you need a place to stay, too. I can provide for the both of you now and even if you insist on finding a job to earn your own money, you could do that from Gillikin and the baby could stay with me! Or I could hire a nanny… please? I don't want to leave by myself."

Lulu, although slightly overwhelmed by the offer, accepted it gratefully, glad to have a more definite place to live now. Galinda took Elphaba's advice about the village boy, too, and made up with him, agreeing to stay in touch through letters after she moved to Gillikin and to see where things would go.

Of course Elphaba was thrilled for her friends, especially once the three of them plus Lori and Fiyero travelled to Gillikin for a week or so to see Galinda and Lulu's new house and to help them clean everything up and adapt it to their style. At the same time, though, the green girl felt a little sad. She hated seeing her friends go after having spent so long together. Besides, she still didn't know what _she_ wanted to do; although when she had brought that problem to her friends' attention, they had both scoffed at her.

"You know what you want to do," Lulu had informed her matter-of-factly. "You've known for a long time already."

"Why do you think we didn't ask you to move in with us?" Galinda had added. "You'd have said no, anyway. No matter the way you keep protesting, Elphie, you're not going anywhere. Your heart is here."

There was very little she could say to argue with that.

Lori and Hamold helped out by offering Elphaba a private tutor, so she could take some classes in topics she found interesting. She gratefully took that opportunity. If she was going to be Fiyero's queen one day, she wanted to be well-educated and to know everything there was to know about the Vinkus. She already had enough factors against her that could make the people wary of her – her skin, her background, her lack of education in the past – so she would do everything in her power to become the best queen she could be. Once her friends had left, she had even more time for her studies and she liked them, too.

The toughest moment so far had been when Governor Thropp and his daughter Nessarose came to stay at Adurin Iir for a couple of days on a state visit. Elphaba wasn't sure what she had expected from Frex. Realistically, she knew he wasn't going to come up to her and apologise for what he had done all those years ago; he probably wouldn't even talk to her.

He didn't, either, as it turned out. He did continuously sneak looks at her whenever he thought she wasn't paying attention, but he didn't say a word to her personally and she didn't seek him out, either. She didn't want anything to do with the man who had never wanted anything to do with her. She had people who loved her now; she didn't need his approval anymore.

She thought briefly about approaching Nessarose, but discarded that notion quickly. The girl in the wheelchair probably didn't even know Elphaba existed, judging from the curious way she looked at her father throughout the visit and the polite, but otherwise empty smiles she gave the green girl. That was all right. Getting to know Nessarose wasn't worth the trouble of having to deal with Frex – and besides, she didn't want to give the poor girl a heart attack by suddenly turning her world upside down. She looked frail enough already. Elphaba didn't miss a sibling, anyway – she already had a family and she knew Galinda and Lulu, despite the distance, were more like sisters to her than Nessarose could ever be; if only because of everything they had been through together. She'd found her family and neither Frexspar nor Nessarose were a part of that.

With a start, she realised that she was happy with her life the way it was now. She was learning the things she wanted to learn, she was with the man she loved and his parents, who treated her like a daughter the way her own family had never treated her. She wrote to Galinda and Lulu regularly and they visited back and forth at least once a month, too – the distance wasn't that great and Fiyero's family had carriages to spare, so the travelling was hardly a problem. She was just… happy. Maybe this was what it felt like to finally let go of her past.

* * *

Since Fiyero had usually had to leave her in the middle of the night when she'd still been with Morrible, Elphaba hadn't often experienced the pleasure of waking up in his arms before she came to Adurin Iir. After she'd, well, given him her heart, they had slept together more often than before and waking up beside him was something she had quickly come to love. They tried to spend the nights together as often as they could – sometimes sleeping together in _that_ sense, but often just talking and sleeping without anything else happening. She liked listening to his heartbeat when she fell asleep and she knew he loved having her close during the night as well.

It was one rainy autumn morning, nearly a year and a half after Elphaba and Fiyero had first met and about a year after she had come to Adurin Iir, when she awoke like that; and a feeling of peace and happiness washed over her like she'd never known before, bringing a wide and probably quite silly smile to her face. There was a twinge of apprehension there, yes, but that couldn't compete with the joy of being here, in the arms of her prince. Her hero.

Her husband.

It had taken him another year of patience and promises before she'd finally given in. He claimed it was more than worth the wait; she didn't entirely believe him. Not until yesterday, when she'd walked down the aisle in a huge, puffy, white dress and she had seen the tears and the light in his eyes. He'd looked so awed upon seeing her like that, so genuinely happy… she _had_ to believe him then.

She watched him sleep for a while now, burrowing into his arms. She felt warm and safe and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop smiling. Why had she been so afraid of this? This – lying here, next to her husband, knowing he really did love her – was the best feeling in the world.

She'd been presented to the people for the first time at their engagement party and although her skin had elicited some wary responses at first, she felt like her speech that night had won some people over at least. Over the course of their engagement, which lasted about a month, the Tiggular family had carefully leaked some information about her to the press, mostly positive things, and soon the Vinkuns had taken a liking to her. She hadn't been surprised when a tabloid had published an article about her being a former prostitute, even though Fiyero had been outraged.

"We knew this would happen," she'd told him. "It was probably Morrible, trying to take her revenge for what we did to her business. It's fine, Yero. It doesn't matter. I'm not ashamed of my past anymore – I want to be honest about my life."

She'd given another speech the next day, confirming the rumours and explaining most of her story. Again, there had been some wary and negative reactions, but the response had mostly consisted of sympathy and even the people who still had doubts couldn't deny the fact that their princess-to-be was a smart girl with good ideas for the Vinkus. By the time their wedding had rolled around, only yesterday, the entire province had celebrated with them and most traces of hesitation had been erased. She hoped the rest of it would resolve itself soon, too, once she'd appear in public a bit more.

Frex, much to her surprise, never contacted her or the Tiggulars in any way, not even after Lori and Hamold had given the people the story about how Elphaba had ended up at an orphanage. She knew he had to have heard about it by now, but apparently he didn't really care. That was fine, too. She'd have to face him again sooner or later in a professional fashion, but privately, there was nothing she wanted from him anymore.

She was shaken from her thoughts when Fiyero stirred and opened his eyes, blinking. Then a goofy smile appeared on his face to match her own and his lips found her hair. "Please tell me I haven't dreamt yesterday," he murmured into her ebony curls.

She raised her left hand and wiggled her ring finger at him, which was now adorned with a white gold band. "Is this answer enough?"

She hadn't thought it possible, but his grin grew even wider and his lips found her own. She returned the kiss, her arms coming around him as he hugged her close.

He let his forehead fall against hers. "I can't believe this really happened," he confessed.

She shook her head at him, smiling. "I can't believe you finally talked me into this," she teased.

Fiyero looked panicked and worried, all of a sudden, and he sat up a little straighter. "You mean you didn't want…?"

Elphaba pressed her finger against his lips, effectively cutting him off. She rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant, Yero," she told him, her voice gentle despite the mild exasperation shining through. He didn't look convinced, so she kissed him again. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me," she said. "And I _was_ scared at first – that your motives weren't pure, or that you'd change your mind about me; but I love you. We've had this conversation before, remember? I wouldn't have married you if I really hadn't wanted to."

He nodded, giving her a lopsided grin. "Okay."

"Besides," she added, "I must say I quite like being your wife so far." She smiled a dimpled smile at him and ran her fingers through his hair. "Thanks for saving me, Yero my hero," she whispered, resting her forehead back against his.

He brushed the back of his hand against her cheek. "I love you so much," he mumbled, drawing her even closer. "I know you're scared, but I'll spend the rest of my life proving that to you."

She looked at him for a long time and then smiled again. "You know what?" she said. "I think you already have."

She was done being afraid. From now on, she would trust her instincts and she'd let go of her past; she'd be happy, because how could she possibly be anything else? After all she'd been through, she'd given up whatever hope she'd ever had of getting a happy ending, but life had always had a funny way of proving her wrong. This was her happy ending and only an idiot would let it slip through her fingers.

Elphaba Thropp was not an idiot.

So she snuggled up to the man she loved, kissing him deeply and feeling his arms come around her, enveloping her in his warm scent and making her feel protected and cared for. Happy ending, indeed, she thought, smiling a little against his lips.

* * *

She awoke like that another year later, too, in Fiyero's arms; only this time it was in the middle of the night and she had to gently push her husband away in order to be able to get out of bed. He shifted a little and half-opened his eyes. "Do you want me to go?" he mumbled.

She shook her head. "I've got it," she whispered and he nodded, watching her leave the room. She moved into the adjoining room, where her son of two months old was spluttering and crying in his bassinet.

"Hello, sweetheart," she murmured, picking him up and sitting down in the rocking chair with him in order to calm him down. Ever since she'd had to terminate her previous pregnancy, she'd hoped for a second chance at motherhood someday; and now here it was, right there in her arms. She'd been mildly shocked upon finding out that she was pregnant, so soon after their wedding, but she'd mostly been excited. Having her son had erased the final few traces of pain the terminated pregnancy had left. That baby would never have had a chance and it would always hold a place in her heart, but she'd gotten her second chance now and it was better than she ever could have imagined – even despite the smelly diapers and the midnight feeds.

She heard Fiyero's footsteps not long thereafter, following her into the nursery, and she looked up to find him smiling at the picture she made with their son. The baby had calmed down by then and she handed him over to his father so the prince could kiss him and then gently place him back. Elphaba came up beside him and he wrapped his arm around her. Together, they watched for a while as their son drifted off to sleep again.

Maybe, she thought as Fiyero led her back to their own bed and tucked in beside her, holding her close, maybe they'd have more children one day. Maybe she'd even be a good mother. She was a princess now, too, and she wasn't too shabby at that; maybe she'd make a decent queen as well. She'd always had so many fears, but they seemed based on nothing now. After all, she'd been scared of marriage and children, too, and look how that had turned out.

Fiyero murmured "good night" into her ear and she closed her eyes, relaxing in his embrace as she decided to just let life run its course from now on. If there was anything she had learned from her life so far, but especially from the past two and a half years, it was that anything was possible.

 **\- THE END -**

* * *

 **Thank you all for sticking with me throughout this story! Your support has been amazing, as always, and I'm very grateful for it ^_^. I do hope you'll stick with me for my next story, too - _Fairest of Them All_ , which will feature a bunch of you guys in what is basically going to be _Miss Congeniality_ \- the Wicked edition!**


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